RWBYS: AfterShock
by DevaStreak59
Summary: Death sets people on different paths, Silber didn't imagine the death of his Uncle to set him on a path that would lead him to Beacon Academy and a group of people that he never knew he needed and might not have met otherwise... or would he? Now if only people would stop saying his gauntlets shocked people! !OC. Rated M for language in some chapters.
1. Chapter 1

AN- **I'M ALIVE! XD So in all seriousness, where have I been for the past 2 months? I had to set writting on the backburner to due to a scare one of my dogs gave us. Good news, he's fine. Then my Dad decided that he wanted spend some time in the hospital and gashed his leg open, almost bleeding out. I took care of him for a while until he could walk better and recently he has returned to work. so thats my story so far I hope you guys are doing good.**

 **Anyways I got a new story lined up. This came to me while rewatching RWBY. I'm excited for and I hope new and older readers will be too. with that out of the way, RWBY is owned by RosterTeeth and Monty Oum (R.I.P.) I only own my OC's. Without further adieu, enjoy. _Peace ~ Deva_**

* * *

 **Silver**

 _"_ _New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings." - Lao Tzu_

"You've been awfully quiet, Silber Lunom. So, let's start from the beginning. Where were you two hours ago?", a middle aged male voice asked.

"Two hours ago, I was in the city of Vale." a younger male voice responded.

"And what were you doing there?"

"Just talking with some friends."

* * *

 **Two Hours earlier. City of Vale.**

It was a silent and peaceful night in the city of Vale with the scattered moon shining its light down on the city. The various people made their way down the many alleys and streets. Shop owners were closing down and headed homeward bound, while many others' night was just starting.

A large boom resounds throughout the city breaking the silence of the night, catching everyone's attention. At the source, a man in an expensive black suit and hat with a red pair of shades was laying on the ground, letting a low groan out from being sent through a wall.

"I thought your gang was big and bad? Don't tell me you're tapping out from only a love tap?"

The voice, that of a teenage boy, came from the hole as smoke billowed out. The voice held a cocky tone.

"If you are, I hate to tell ya, but we're just starting the fun and I have a lot more party tricks to show you."

A gray boot stepped out of the crater as the man's assailant revealed himself. A teen had a sleeveless black jacket with rips along it, with the hood on, and denim jeans. On his face, tinted black squared off glasses with the bottom portion covered by a mouth guard.

What stuck out the most, and what had the suited man looking for a way out, was the pair of gauntlets on his forearm. They were mostly a dull silver color with some dull white lights peaking through the gauntlets' armor. They start at his elbow and went to his all the way to his wrist.

The armor got to it's widest and thickest just a little past the middle of his forearm and went back down at a more gradual slant than the back half of the gauntlets.

"Now, are you going to tell me where your boss is or do you want me to start getting creative?" The teen threatened, stepping over the man, who was frantically trying to crawl up the wall to get away."

"You know who I answer to! And you know what happens to those who snitch him out!."

The hooded teen grabs the man and roughly spun him around to face him. He started to whimper as he faced the emotionless mask of the teen. "Shhhhh. He's not here and not the one you should be afraid of. I believe both of those apply to me."

The gauntlets end gained a whitish glow and let out a low hum while the man started squirming in his grip. His teeth started chattering fearfully.

"Now, I'm gonna ask once more. Where. Is. Roman. Torchwick."

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the man in the suit gave in and squealed.

"He took some guys with him to go hit another dust shop! Uh-uh I think the pl-place was called Fr-From Dust Till Dawn!"

The teen let his grip go making the guy drop back to the ground shaking slightly.

"Thanks for your cooperation, sir. You have a nice night and don't worry the shakes will go away… eventually."

The masked teen turned and walked out of the alley with his new destination determined, leaving the man the lay on the dingy ground as the man shook from his encounter. The teen on the other slipped on a pair of beat-up gray headphones and whistled along to a tune as he turned on the corner of the street

* * *

 **Present time.**

"The fine gentlemen at the Vale Police Department found that man in the alley. His arms were both broken. They also found a couple of his cohorts after investigating the three large holes in that commercial building. You did quite the damage, young man." The older voice chastised, "The owners of that building are now forced to the demolish it and rebuild it.

"Come on, man. I didn't even hit the guy hard, besides that building was old it was coming down anyway." Retorted the younger male.

"Citizens two blocks away felt the tremors from your little scuffle. Imagine the investigators' surprise when the report came back from the hospital that your "sparing partner"," The older man's used the words loosely, "arms weren't broken from blunt force but were quite literally vibrated until they shattered. The list of injuries that his comrades suffered are extensive as well among them being; a broken jaw, fractured back, five ribs broken along with their sternum, and the list goes on"

"Not my fault they couldn't take a small love tap." muttered the teen.

"Ahem," a third person, clearly a female by her voice, clears her voice, "Young man, the hits delivered to those men and the others you encountered could not be deemed "love taps"."

"Trust me, those hits might have been hard to them but was barely anything close to how hard I can hit."

"Now now, let's return our attention back to how we got to this moment in time." The middle aged man directed.

* * *

 **Two Hours Earlier.**

From Dust Till Dawn was well known for being a quaint little dust shop with a modest owner, but right now it's the site of a yet another in a string of dust store robberies by one, Roman Torchwick. Roman fancied himself as a criminal mastermind. He pulls off all these dust store robberies and the fools that call themselves "cops" haven't been able to catch up to him yet. Everything was going to plan.

So imagine his surprise when during one of his routine robberies, everything comes to a screeching halt because one of his henchmen gets sent flying… by a teenage girl that doesn't even look past the age of 15. The girl proceeds to send her self and another henchman crashing through the shop's window onto the street.

The girl picked herself up and dusted her red cloak off, before reaching onto her back pulling a what at first looks to be a black and red jagged box. Until said box unfolded into a scythe that easily towered over her. The girl twirls it around with a smirk on her face before striking it into the ground, the motion causing her blackish red hair to shift gently in front of her silver eyes.

"Okayyy..." Torchwick turns to his remaining goons with a tone of ire. "Get her!"

The henchmen piled out of the shop and run at the girl, who spun around on top of her scythe, kicking the unlucky first criminal to get near her in the face. She dislodged the scythe out of the ground and fires it off sending her speeding to hit another with the butt end of her weapon.

She fired again and brought the side crashing down on one attacker, dodging the next's gunfire with the speed of the built in rifle of her scythe, getting close enough to knock him into the air and follow him upwards delivering a final hit to send him crashing down to Roman's feet. Consider his fine night officially ruined.

"You guys were worth every cent. Truly, you were."Hearing the police sirens, he drops his cigar and crushed it under his can before turning back to the red nuisance. "Well, Red, I think we can all say its been an eventful night, and as much as I'd love to stick around..."

Roman raises his cane, aiming it at the girl and with a soft click the end of his cane pops open revealing a cross grid and barrel, "...I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

Roman's finger barely touches the trigger before he and the cloaked girl hear a rumble before a white shock wave obliterates the spot Roman is stand, the explosion causes the windows of From Dust Till Dawn to shatter.

"What the?" The girl looks to left to see a masked person with a raised gauntlet down the street. Roman gets up, dusting his suit, "Well, now that wasn't nice getting my coat all dusty."

The masked person walks closer, growling out, "Roman Torchwick, me and you are gonna have words."

The black hair girl shoots a shocked look hearing the masked person's voice sound like a teen boy's.

Roman scoffed at the other teen, "Sorry kiddies, but babysitting isn't in my job description. Ciao."

He picks his cane back up, aiming it at the two teens and unleashes a red blast. The girl fires at the ground and leaps over it with ease, while the teen uses the waves from his gauntlet to jump him over to the spot Roman was last at. Landing back down with a mild thud, The teen in the black jacket looks frantically for the criminal, "Where'd he go!"

The girl looks over to see he's climbing up a ladder on a nearby building. "There he is!"

With his target back in his sights, the masked teen ditches the girl and leap after the dust robber. The cloaked girl turns to the onlooking shopkeeper, "You okay if I go after him?"

The elderly shopkeeper gives a short "Uh huh." and the girl sets off to join the fray.

Roman makes it to the roof as a soft rumble signifies that he's no longer alone as he stands at the other end of the rooftop. The masked teen stands behind him with a gauntlet raised ready to fire another blast at the criminal.

"I told you, Rommie. Me and you are gonna have words, whether you want to or not isn't gonna be your choice." The two have a short stare down, before the scythe girl leaps onto the building with a shout, "Hey! Oh… you two are still here."

The hooded teen cocked his head at her almost saying "Really?"

Roman snorts, "Persistent..."

The two teens ready themselves to fight the runaway criminal, but a getaway bullhead rises on other side of the building. Roman jumps in the moment the hatch is let down, he turns around holding a red Dust gem, "End of the line, Kiddies"

He throws it at their feet and fires at them, resulting in a large explosion. Torchwick let out a wicked laugh, "Whoa-ho-ho-ho!" only to stop when he saw something still on the roof, even after the eruption from the Dust crystal.

Standing in front of the teens, a light blonde older woman wearing ovular glasses, a purple cape that ended in curled arrows, and a stylized tiara symbol on the cape's back. In front of her, an intricate purple magic circle that defended the three from the blast. The two look on as the new arrival waves at looks to be… a riding crop like a wand and summons several streaks of purple to attack the craft, shaking it violently.

Roman is thrown around until he stumbles to the cockpit, where a woman in red, her face unseen, is struggling with the controls to steady the ship

"We got a Huntress!"

The woman gets up silently and heads toward the back as Torchwick takes control of the craft. The moment that Silber saw the amber orbs shine from the cargo hold, a sharp chill crawled it's way up his spine as his body refused to move. It was them. The person that killed him. The teens' savior's crop glowed purple for a brief moment and shot another blast above the craft, creating a dark storm-cloud right over the jet in the process.

From the pilot's seat, Roman watches the sky darken above letting out mumbled "The hell.."

With a flick of her weapon, large serrated hail starts falling on the jet, pummeling it, and even breaking through the cockpit window, missing Roman's head by a razor's edge. In response, the woman in red reaches back as her arms and chest shine brightly like their on fire, aiming the burst at the third interloper of the night.

The bespectacled woman blocks it with relative ease, but the fire splatters behind her and with the enemy's raised hand, almost willing that the fire burns hotter. The blonde woman back-flips out of the explosions path as it destroys part of the roof, and magically gather the shards to create a large arrow, immediately forcing it to hit the craft.

The fiery woman destroys the arrow with several blasts, only for it to reform just in time to hit the side of the jet, thanks to Roman's quick aerial lean. The wreckage separates and shifts into more arrows to continue it's assault on the bullhead, but the fire woman summons several glowing rings around herself that expand and destroys the jagged shards.

The red cloaked girl, finally acting, reverts her scythe into a rifle form to fire at the woman, who blocks each shot easily and creates several scorching circles around her three opponents. The older woman telekinetically pushes the two younger fighters and rolls herself out of the explosion's radius; looking up to see the hatch shut and the bull head fly away.

"No, no, no, no!" screamed the masked teen picking himself up and readies his gauntlets before firing off wave after wave at the fleeing ship.

"Young man, calm yourself." The savior called sternly making the teen turn to her with a hidden glare as the black haired girl admired the older woman.

"You're a Huntress!" She had a pleading, awe-stricken face on, "Can I have your autograph?!"

* * *

 **Present Time.**

"And you know the rest." The teen concluded.

Picking up his cup of tea and taking a sip, Professor Ozpin reviewed the information that was just presented to him from the young man in front of him. The youth in front of him, the masked boy that has been causing quite the problem for Roman Torchwick and his gang. Looking at him now though, It makes him wonder, how he could cause that much trouble for the criminal.

The boy himself looked worse for wear as he was garbed in something that could barely be considered a "hoodie" with all the rips and tears along the cloth's surface. His pants could be joined in that group as well as there were holes scattered along the pant's legs. The Professor also took note of the strong scent of ash exuding from his clothes

Neck length black hair that shift into a soft silver, kept his eyes out of sight but the professor already seen their color, a dark blue. His skin was also a pale color that seemed familiar to Ozpin.

"Young man," The white haired man finished his sip, "How old are you."

"15, sir." The hushed answer came immediately.

"Do you know who I am?"

"You're the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Professor Ozpin."

The silver haired man held a soft smile and shifted his gaze to the teens forearms where a pair of silver bracers located, "Tell me, how did you learn to do this?" Glynda Goodwitch stepped forward showing her scroll the teen to reveal footage of him fighting over the past few days.

"My Uncle taught me how to defend myself when I was younger. I made the gauntlet's a year and a half ago." The teen's voice quivered talking about his father.

The professor straightened his glass spectacles and turned to Glynda, who had a solemn look on her face. They both knew who this boy's uncle was, Geist Lunom, a comrade from their younger days.

He was killed 5 days ago, house burned down to nothing but a smoldering heap. His signature weapons, dual crossbow pistols that could shift into combat sai's were left broken, barely recognizable with the scratches and scorch marks.

"And on the subject of your gauntlets. I do believe I've never seen a pair of gauntlets quite as odd as yours." Ozpin returned his sights on Silber.

The boy raised his head looking the older man in the eyes, "Odd in the sense that I can't pull the look off or odd in the sense that they're the only weapon of it's kind to be designed to project high intensity vibrations into the air resulting in a shock-wave?"

Glynda had a small scowl at the immaturity the teen showed at the situation at hand. Ignoring the obvious sarcasm in the teen's voice, Ozpin was impressed with youth's knowledge. Geist wrote letters of his intelligence and even sending a copy of his transcript as a recommendation to be moved up from his entry level school and the events that transpired only confirmed it.

"What was the purpose you had in mind fighting these men for the past four days?" After the question was asked, the teen's posture turned rigid and tensed. A hushed silence fell over the room.

Ozpin pressed forward, "Was it perhaps for some to enact a form of vengeance against Roman Torchwick? A way to avenge your uncle?" each sentence only seemed to make the teen shudder.

"What do you think Geist would say if he was here and saw what you've been doing? Destroying things that people worked hard to build in a quest to kill Roman Torchwick?"

Silber slammed his fist down on the cold metal table, "Well, Uncle Geist isn't here!"

Ozpin wasn't surprised by the outburst, in fact he wanted him to do it. Tears fell as the teen continued his vent, "He's not here and I am! I could have done something, anything to help him. But he pushed me into the bunker and told me to not come out. I was a coward to listen to him and lost everything for it!"

He lets out a scream loosening a damn that was held by pain and anger as hot tears rolled down cheek. Ozpin and Glynda watched the scene silently understanding the teen's pain as he was bombarded with the emotions he had pushed away other than anger. They knew what it felt like knowing they could save someone but didn't.

The teen's weeping continued for a moment before slowly turning into sobs and hiccups. Glynda hands the grieving boy a handkerchief to wipe the tears from his red puffy eyes.

"Geist was a great friend and comrade. He made the decision to give his life in order for you to keep yours. He wouldn't have wanted you to spend yours hunting that man." Ozpin knew Geist held onto the belief that if you murdered a murdered that the amount of murderers in the world stayed the same, and that killing a person should only be done under last resort.

"Tell me what was the purpose of your training" Ozpin asked as the teen regained his composure somewhat back to normal.

"To become a Huntsman."

"Why?"

"I grew up being told stories of his adventures as a Huntsman and of many others. People that stood tall against the forces of the Grimm and to whoever else would harm the innocent. I wanted to be like him and help people. I wanted to attend your school when the time came, but I guess with all that happened with the minor damages I caused, that that's off the table?" The teen breathed out looking between the veteran Huntsman and Huntress.

Glynda rolled her eyes at his use of the word "minor". That couldn't begin to describe the chaos he brought with him. She turned to Ozpin and shared a knowing look with him. He was doing it again.

"Well, when you put it like that," Ozpin started firmly looking at Silber, "I guess I can allow it.'

"Wait, what?!" The teen almost fell out of his chair and had to do a double take. "You're joking."

Ozpin took another swig of tea from his mug, "I assure you, Mister Lunom, that I want you to attend my school. Your potential as a Huntsman is to great to simmer in some dusty cell and Geist shared my belief as well." He took a piece of a paper from his suit case and slid it over to the teen.

Silber instantly recognized the writing as his father's, it was a recommendation to attend Beacon. He looked at it wide eyed and open mouthed.

"I'll do it."

"I look forward to seeing you at initiation, Mister Lunom." Professor Ozpin extended his hand to the teen, who shook it gratefully.

"Yes, sir."

"There will be someone to get you into a warm bed to rest in for tomorrow and be ready to go shopping for some clothes as well." The silver haired man recommended, "Just wait at the reception for the moment."

The teen nodded and took his leave, the only two left in room being Professor Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch.

"You were surprisingly quiet, Glynda." Commented the headmaster.

"I was just taking in the facts of the conversation. The more important question is do you think he knows?"

"No, Geist never told him who his real family is, but I feel that the day is approaching soon. I know you noticed his hair and eyes as well."

"You don't think..." The caped woman questioned

"Yes, it seems she doesn't want to take any chances of them finding each other." Ozpin noted taking another long sip of tea, "But it seems to have done the opposite and brought them closer than they know. I'm interested in how it will all unfold."

* * *

 **AN- I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, if so favorite, follow, review, and I'll see you guys soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN- Hey guys and welcome to the next chapter of RWBYS: AfterShock! I hope you're all having a great day so far. so quick shoutouts to Owen's left foot and Paulvulturuk for following the story, MadnessRainsBlood for leaving a review and favorite, I greatly appreaciate it.**

 **RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and created by Monty Oum. I only own my OCs. Now, without further adieu enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **High Rate High School**

For what could be the umpteenth time that morning, Silber Lunom sighed. He had on some new duds in the form of a dark gray, sleeveless hooded vest with the collar popped out, along with a light gray short sleeve shirt with the sleeves a little past his shoulder. He changed out his hole ridden pants for a pair loose fitting, gray pants with a blue stripe on the legs with multiple pouches, and finally decorated in some gray boots. Adorned on his face, a pair of dark tinted sunglasses, as his wrists held his gauntlets in their bracer forms.

He wanted to talk his Dad. He wanted to tell him how excited he was to go to his dream school. But he couldn't talk to him; he could only tell him how excited he was and sit in silence while looking at the only thing that proved Geist Lunom existed, a gravestone with his name and a symbol that matches Remnant's shatter moon. The same symbol that was present on his right sleeve.

He knew that Geist wouldn't want him to keep going on like this and keep moving forward like he taught him to, but he couldn't shake the feeling like he could've done something. He could have blasted the cellar door off the hinges like a hot knife through butter, but he didn't.

He listened to the battle with muffled screams trying to escape his throat, hearing one solid name through it all; Roman Torchwick. He followed a cramped tunnel that came out to a hidden door behind the treeline. He got out in time to watch Geist... disintegrate in brillant flash of orange and yellow, leaving no trace of Geist Lunom other than the scorched fragments of his Dust crossbow pistols. The only thing that stood out about his killer; a set of eyes that burned brighter than the inferno set loose on the small cabin.

He dug in his pocket to pull his new scroll out to confirm that he was running late for the transport to Beacon. Putting the scroll back, Silber looked back down at the gravestone, "I'm sorry I can't stay longer. But I promise I'm gonna live my life the way you would have wanted me to, by helping people that can't defend themselves, whatever it takes."

He turned around and walked a few feet before looking back at he grave one last time. Making a mad dash towards his destination, Silber couldn't help but think, 'Man, I love doing this!' He leapt up, and with a little help from his gauntlets, boosted over a couple fences with his target in mind.

Silber finally reached the pier that was being occupied by a giant airship; decorated in varying shades of white, black, and gray. Noticing the various older students boarding said pier, he made his way over, getting a nice look at a banner saying 'Students of Beacon'.

He wasted no time getting into the single file line that slowly flowed into the viewing gallery and followed along. The room itself was easily over 12 or 13 feet across, and on the sides were four semicircular windows

Once he was in the door shut closed, Silber made his way over to a seat by the window. He watched people form up in small groups, obviously talking about how exciting it is to be going to Beacon and the things that would follow after getting there.

The teen slipped on his headphones and selected a random song to play. As he looked out the window to watch the wings of the ship unfolded for testing before the flight. After a moment the ship lifted and began it's journey. Silber leaned back in his seat and rested his eyes to listen to his music peacefully.

"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" Consider his moment of peace and silence ruined by a voice louder than his music. Looking around, Silber located a mess of Yellow, orange, red and black known as Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose. The former enveloping the other in a crushing hug, "This is the best day ever!"

Yang was fair-skinned with lilac colored eyes and bright golden blonde hair worn loose with a small cowlick on top. She had on a tan jacket that exposed her midriff, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that had two gold buttons. Underneath that, she wore a low cut yellow crop top with a fire-like emblem on her left breast in black.

Around her waist, a brown belt covered over by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with the same symbol emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this is a longer, white, asymmetrical piece of cloth reaching to her knew on the right side, as well as a pair of black mini-shorts.

For her choice of footwear, a pair of brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee. A purpleish-gray bandanna is tied around her left knee. Completing her outfit, an orange infinity scarf, bulky yellow bracelets, and black finger-less gloves to finish it off.

"Please stop." Ruby wheezed lowly, struggling to get air into her lungs from the bear hug.

"But I'm so proud of you!" Yang retaliated excitedly, as she finally freed her little sister from her grip.

Only once she was put down, did Silber recognize who Ruby was as the girl that was confronting Roman Torchwick the other night. She wore the same red cloak that adorned her shoulders with cross shaped pins that kept it fastened. She had on a long sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red laces up the front, and a black skirt with red trim.

She wore a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and same on the soles. A wide black belt was slung around her hips at an angle, which also carried a pouch and bullets. The finishing touch on her belt, a silver broach with the emblem of a rose on it.

"Really, sis, it was nothing." She calmly said, wanting the newfound attention she was receiving from onlookers to stop.

"What do you mean? It was incredible!" Yang stated incredulously, obviously excited for her sister, "Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees."

"I don't want to be the bee's knees, okay?" Ruby said, raising her voice slightly higher than her sister's. "I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."

"What's with you? Aren't you excited?" Questioned Yang, confused to see her younger sibling acting like that on today of all days.

"Of course I'm excited… I just..." Ruby breathed out a low sigh, "I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything." She finished, letting her head hang down.

"But you are special." Yang comforted the shorter sibling, slinging her into a one armed hug. "Besides, I heard that another student got moved up two years as well."

"Really?!" Ruby's head jolted up in excitement, her whole attitude doing an 180 from a moment ago. "Who!?

"I don't know," she said, before she started scanning the room, trying to spot anyone that appeared younger than her. "But I heard that's its a guy."

That whole time while the sisters were talking, Silber's eye's were focused on the younger sibling's hair and eyes. He was in deep thought, before a tune sounded off for on a tv behind him, getting everyone's attention.

"...The robbery was led by the nefarious Roman Torchwick. Who continues to avoid authorities. Interesting enough, last night he encountered someone, who we have been covering for the past week here at VNN. A masked male, who has made headlines for hunting down members of Torchwick's gang of criminals and nearly collapsing four buildings, while wearing an unknown model of gauntlets. People have dubbed this vigilante as 'The Shocker' as witnesses claim that when he grabbed on the gang members, the looked like they were being quote: "Shocked"." The male news anchor reported making Silber groan and face-palm, while they ran footage of him.

"Oh! Yang that's the guy I told you about. He and his weapon was sooo cool!" Ruby gushed, "He was all like "Roman Torchwick. Me and you are gonna have words." and then, and then he shot this weird blast that went "Boom"!"

"I get it, Rubes, I get it." The tall blonde laughed, "From what the news and you keep sayin, it sounds like this guy knows how to party."

"The two had short confrontation after the former's robbery, where Torchwick escaped and Shocker was apprehended by Vale Police and an unnamed Huntress. The Shocker's identity has been kept confidential at this time. If you have any information of Roman Torchwick's whereabouts please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa." The male voice finished, with the screen shifting to a pale woman, with silver hair, wearing a purple shirt with a black coat over it, and underneath her was her name 'Lisa Lavender'.

"Thank you, Cyril." Lisa replied, "In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights Protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted..." The news feed cut abruptly.

Silber grumbled mentally, hating how people thought his gauntlets 'shocked' than what it really did. He was interrupt as new voice cut it's way through the murmurs of the crowd.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" The news feed was replaced with a hologram of Glynda Goodwitch."

"Who's that?" Yang wondered aloud.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch." The hologram seemingly answered.

"Oh."

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." Said the hologram Glynda, before disappearing allowing for the murmurs between the small groups to start back up.

'Wow.' Silber thought, 'When she puts it like that, no pressure.'

He watched the other students gather around the windows, Ruby and Yang joining in as well.

"Oh, wow! Look, you can see Signal from up here!" Ruby cried out in surprise along with several others as they looked through the glass windows at the town below, "I guess home isn't too far after all!"

Silber stopped listening after that. That had hit like a hard punch to the gut. Home was with Geist at the cabin, training, or doing some chores around the cabin along with many more things that he wanted to block out and try to be positive like Geist wanted him to be.

Lucky for him, his train of thought wrecked as he heard the gurgling stomach of an unlucky guy. Turning around, he saw a pale blonde boy with dark blue eyes. He appeared to be a little toned, and had a white chest plate, shoulder armor, and back plate strapped on over a black short sleeved hoodie. He had on a orangish red, long sleeve undershirt, connected to a pair of brown finger-less gloves.

He also wore blue pants adorned with two belts with different shades of brown that had pouches around around it, with a white path on his left knee, with black sneaker that had white soles. Silber took note of the white sheath of a sword beside his left hip. The guy ran out of view, probably to the bathroom or nearest trash can.

"Well..." Yang said, as she hung her arm off Ruby's shoulder again, "I guess the view isn't for everyone."

"It was a nice moment while it lasted." Ruby replied, forgetting the attention she garnered just a few moments ago.

"I wonder who else we're gonna meet! I just hope they're better than Vomit Boy." Ruby said in excitement as the ship approached what looked like the peak of a mountain.

Ouch. Silber couldn't help but feel for the older boy, but that didn't mean he couldn't laugh at his predicament. His light laughter turned into a loud snicker at what happened next.

Oh, Yang, gross! You have puke on your shoe!" Ruby squealed setting her older sister off like her hair was on fire.

The next moment was filled with Yang running around repeating "Gross! Gross! Gross!" and Ruby trying to get away from her while replying with "Get away from me!"

Sometimes you have to make your entertainment. Other times, the entertainment just happens and Silber couldn't keep his laughter in any longer at watching the sisters run around the room. "I think that was a great first impression if I ever seen any." Silber thought as he wiped a loose tear from his eye.

Finally landing, "Vomit Boy" was the first to get out the door and to the nearest trash can. He dived his head and proceeded to throw up his breakfast, lunch, and diner all in one go, while the rest of the students passed by him without giving him a second glance. As Silber exited, he couldn't help but wonder who to feel bad for; "Vomit Boy" or the trash can.

A few more retches made his decision in the trash can's favor. Poor trash can. Eventually the poor teen ran out of food to throw back up and rested his head on the rim of the bin. Turning around, Silber looked in awe at the Academy.

The building was worthy of being called a castle. He stared at the large courtyard in front of it, with large pillars lining around the area. There were also several towers that extended from the main building with one in the middle that towered over the others. The sight brought a smile to his face.

He made his way to the courtyard and not a second sooner, he heard a crash. Looking around, the brunet spotted the disturbance, the silver-eyed girl fell into some white luggage causing their contents to be strewn everywhere.

Ruby shook her head regaining her senses, she was greeted by the white wedged heels of a very upset Weiss Schnee. Silber recognized the girl as the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company with her pure white hair and piercing blue eyes. Now, he wasn't a big fan of the Schnee Dust Company for how it treated it's laborers and the shady business partners that they aligned themselves with.

But he didn't hold it against Weiss, he was smart enough to not blame any of that on the older girl. Hell, for all Silber knew she could be a nice person.

"What are you doing?!" Weiss fumed at the younger girl.

Ruby could only give her a confused look as she picked herself up, "Uh, Sorry!"

This only seemed to fuel the white haired girl further, "Sorry?! Do you have any idea how much damage you could have caused?"

Ruby, in an attempt to calm the heiress down, picked up one of her scattered luggage cases to reorganize it the best she could, "Uuhhh..."

"Give me that!" She snatched the case from her hands and opened it up as Ruby was still a little disoriented from the whole ordeal, "This is Dust-mined and purified from the Schnee Quarry."

"Uuuhhhh..." Ruby's confusion continued much to Weiss's chagrin, "What are you brain-dead?" She chastised, while holding out a bottle of red Dust and closed the case, "Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!"

"I… I know..." Ruby started, but was interrupted by a coughing fit caused by the Dust bottle not being fully closed, letting out some Dust powder.

"Are you even listening to me?! Is any of this sinking in?!" Weiss said shaking the leaking Dust bottle harder, "What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Ruby, who had been on the receiving end of more and more Dust to her face, finally let out a sneeze, which erupts into a full-blown explosion of flame, snowflakes, and electricity covering Weiss. The bottle she had been holding flew from her hand across the courtyard and stopped at the feet of a black haired girl, who was reading a book.

She picked up the bottle and scanned it over with her amber colored eyes. Seeing the Schnee family emblem, she turned her attention the heiress, who was recovering from the explosion the red cloaked girl accidentally caused.

"Unbelievable!" Weiss shouted once she regained her senses at what just occurred, "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" She finished as she pat the soot off of her outfit.

Ruby could only utter an embarrassed apology, "I'm really, really sorry!"

"Ugh, you complete dolt!" The white haired heiress groaned shooting an angry glare at the red tipped girl, "What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending to be attending Beacon?"

"Well, I-I..."

"She said she was sorry." Interrupted Silber, making Weiss turn around and Ruby lean to her left, looking at the newcomer with slight relief, "Maybe if you would let her talk you would have heard her. You also might have noticed that the cap to the Dust bottle was cracked, leaking the Dust that blew up in your face."

"How dare you!?" Weiss now directed her shouting at Silber, offend that something she knows like knows the back of her hand was left unattended by her. "What even makes you say that?!"

"Wow, sight and hearing problems, but don't worry I'll repeat what I said." Silber teased the heiress, making her more flustered, "If you would have listened to her and taken notice of the loose cap on your Dust bottle, that whole situation could have been avoided."

"Do you even know who you're talking to?!" She yelled again, crossing her arms in indignation.

"I know exactly who I'm talking to." Silber stated, sending a glare of his own, "And it doesn't change a thing, Princess."

"It's heiress, actually." A new voice entered the conversation, catching everyone's attention. The three turned to voice finding a pale skinned, black haired girl with a ribbons tied into a neat bow on the top of her head and her hands was the Dust bottle that lead to the explosion, "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

Weiss smugly smiled, before the amber eyed girl continued, "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

The look on the heiress's flabbergasted face was something Silber would never forget. It looked like she was gonna blow a gasket. It was official, the amber eyed girl was the best person here by far. He and Ruby let out a little snicker.

"Wha- How dare- The nerve of… Ugh!" Was the only words the Schnee could huff out as she snatched away the empty bottle from the girl and stomped away from the three, while her helpers pushed her luggage away after reorganizing it.

Still feeling guilty, Ruby called out, "I promise I'll make it this up to you!" She sighed when she didn't get a response back, "I guess I'm not the only one have a rough first day… So, what's..." Ruby turned to talk to the girl with the black bow, but found her already walking, "Welcome to Beacon..." She collapsed to the ground dejectedly

For one reason or another, Silber couldn't stand to see the girl depressed like she was. He walked over and reached out a hand, "Don't worry about her, some people are just like that."

Seeing the hand, Ruby took it happily and when she did it felt like a shock went through her. Silber felt it too and shot a quick glance at his hand.

"Uh.. my name's Ruby." Ruby said nervously.

"Silber."

There was an awkward silence that followed, before Silber promptly turned on his heels and started to walk away, until Ruby finally spoke up, "Wait, where are you going."

"Well, orientation is happening soon so I gonna go get my spot. I'll see you around Ruby." The boy waved back, taking his leave.

Seeing his chance, a certain regurgitating teen stepped over to Ruby awkwardly. "Hey… I'm Jaune."

"Ruby." She tilted her head, "Aren't you that guy that threw up on the ship?"

* * *

 **Auditorium**

Making his way through the huge entrance door, too big in his opinion, Silber jaw hung down in awe at the sheer size of the academy. 'You could fit a couple Bullheads in here!' He thought as he went to grab his spot. Looking around he saw Ruby and 'Vomit boy' enter in as more people fill the room to the brim. Ruby spotted him and waved while he sent a two fingered salute in response.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Silber turned to see the same blonde haired girl that Ruby was with on the airship, waving to her.

"Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony, Jaune!" Ruby said before dashing off to her sister leaving Jaune to his lonesome in the crowd.

"Hey, wait!" The blonde protested to no avail, before breathing out a lowly sigh, "Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?!"

What the now named Jaune didn't know was that Silber's sharp eyes noticed a girl standing behind him, hand on her hip as she watched him walk away. The girl in question, who had her fiery red in a long flowing ponytail, in light-brown and bronze strapless armor in an elastic, black, A-line miniskirt and brown opera-length gloves, with a red ankle length drapery around her skirt. If only he knew.

Ruby crossed her arms against her chest, standing beside her older sister, "How's your first day going little sister?" The blonde girl asked innocently, trying to break the silent treatment the younger girl was giving her.

"You mean since you ditched and I exploded?!" Ruby almost yelled.

"Yikes." Yang cringed, "Meltdown already?" She asked calmly, turning to face the youngest out of the two of them.

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school..." Ruby said as she threw her hands up, "There was some fire and I think some ice…?

Yang couldn't help but smile, "Are you being sarcastic?"

"Ugh! I wish!" She said, not knowing a certain white haired heiress was right behind her, "I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!" She put a hand to her chin trying to remember the entire incident.

A loud shout of "You!" was screamed really close to her, making her leap into the older sibling's unsuspecting arms.

"Oh, God, it's happening again!" She cried.

"You're lucky we weren't blown of the side of the cliff!" She said resting her arms on her waist.

"Oh my God, you really exploded." Yang deadpanned softly, her eyes wide from the realization as she eyed the black clothed creature in her arms.

"It was an accident!" Ruby clarified to her older sister before hopping of out of her grasp. "It was an accident!" This time to the heiress, who simply shoved a pamphlet about Dust in her face. "What's this?"

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product." Weiss said robotically, almost like she had the speech memorized to a tee, "Although not mandatory, the Schnee family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field." By now the heiress sounded like one of those sped up voices at the end of a product commercial. Even Silber looked at her wide-eyed, thinking that it wasn't humanly possible.

Ruby, clearly confused by the rapid speed she said that, let out a soft, "Uuhhh…?"

"You really wanna start making things up to me?" Weiss asked, getting a questioning nod from the younger girl.

"Absolutely?"

"Read this and don't ever talk to me again." The white clad girl said, practically smashing the booklet into the silver-eyed girl's face.

"Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot." Yang said, while rubbing the back of her head. "Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" The blonde bombshell asked, trying to make peace between the two.

"Yeah!" Ruby said excitedly, "Great idea, sis!" The younger girl turned around and held her right hand out for a handshake, clearing her throat. "Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby! Want to hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

The Schnee heiress, who hadn't made any move to accept the handshake, raised her hands behind her head. "Yeah, and we can paint or nails and try on clothes." she said with fake enthusiasm oozing from her voice. "And talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde, and scraggly over there, or not-so-tall, dark, and brooding."

Silber narrowed his eyes at the Schnee for the jab, 'Oh, so you want to play that game, huh? Well, I can play it better.' Jaune looked over at the conversation with a light "Hm?" at hearing his name.

"Wow, really!"

Weiss just looked at the shorter girl with a glare of dead silence, "No."

"Ahem..." Came a male voice spoke in a microphone when Yang and Weiss had their backs turned to each other, leaving poor Ruby in the middle, looking down in disappointment, but all looked at the new voice.

"I'll… keep this brief." Ozpin said while pushing his spectacles up, "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone you're new craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

"Wow, way to get our attention, Oz." Silber thought to himself, as the students started to look at each other and whisper in bewilderment.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." The professor conclude leaving Glynda to step up to the mic.

"You will gather in the ballroom." Said the blonde professor. "Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"He seemed kind of… off." Stated Yang after the speech.

"Almost like he wasn't even there." Ruby finished her older sister's train of thought.

"I'm a natural blonde, you know!" Jaune said in a poor attempt to talk to Weiss, who facepalmed in exasperation. 'Why me?" She thought to herself.

If it happened to anyone else, Silber would have facepalmed too, but it happened to the Schnee, and he saw that as an act of karma. The gray clad teen let out a soft snicker at Weiss expense before moving on with his day.

* * *

 **Later That Night - Ballroom**

The night peacefully came to Beacon's Huntsmen and Huntresses, now mostly garbed in their sleepwear and lying in their mattresses.

Ruby was lying on her mattress, writing a note, she was wearing a black tank top with a heart-shaped red Beowolf head on her chest and white long pants with pink roses as decoration, on her head was a black sleeping mask with triangular red eyes, like that of a Grimm's.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang said excitedly, plopping herself on her own mattress, beside Ruby's. She herself wore an orange tank top with her emblem on the front and black short shorts.

"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though." Ruby pointed out, not taking her eyes off her note.

"I know I do." Yang replied with a hint of lust in her voice as she looked around at the topless guys, showing off their muscles, but then she spotted Jaune walking in a light blue pajama onesie with a blue bunny slippers and with a white bunny face on his chest, humming a small happy tune to himself. He stopped and smiled at Yang when she looked at him, making her lose all interest in boys for the moment.

Looking down at her sister, she saw her writing down on her note pad, "What's that?" She asked.

"A letter to the gang back at Signal." Ruby simply replied. "I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." She continued with her feet raised up.

"Aww, that's so cuuuute!" Yang sang out, before getting knocked back by a pillow to the face.

"Shut up!" Ruby said, with a slightly agitated expression. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird not knowing anyone here."

"What about Jaune? He's..." Yang started, trying to find the right word for her fellow blonde, "…Nice. There you go! Plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase! Add Silber in and you got another hundred percent increase! That's two hundred percent increase in total!" She added, trying to cheer up the younger girl.

"I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend." Ruby frowned as she turned onto her back. "Back to one friend."

"There's no such thing as negative friends." Yang replied. "You just made two friends and one enemy!" She said, not quite realizing that it didn't help her sister's situation, until she was on the receiving end of another pillow to the face. "Look it's only been one day. Trust me, you've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."

Suddenly, a dim light turned on catching the sisters' attention. Looking at the source, they saw the girl that talked to Weiss earlier after the explosion, reading a book by candlelight, in a black yukata with gray and white as secondary color, her bow still present on her head.

"That girl..." Ruby started.

"You know her." Yang asked with sudden interest.

"Not really. She saw what happened this morning, but left before I could say anything." Ruby told her sister all the while never taking her silver eyes off the girl.

"Well, now's your chance!" Yang happily remarked as she got up and dragged her sister to the reading girl.

"Hey, wait! What are you doing?!" Ruby protested, but it fell on deaf ears as she dragged against her will.

Silber recently got out of the bathroom after taking a long and hot shower. Now wearing a simple gray tank top showing his toned arms, along with a black pair of shorts, his bracers still on his forearms. He also had his hair pulled up in a ponytail. He watched as Yang was dragging the struggling Ruby, kicking and screaming, the sight putting a small smile on his face.

The amber-eyed girl looked up from her book after hearing a couple muffled protests coming closer to her, to reveal a blonde dragging a black and red haired one, towards her.

"Helloooo!" Sang the blonde one, clearly strong to drag the other girl by one hand with ease. Before she let go of her hand as both started to making their way towards her. "I believe you two may know each other!" She said as the shorter girl turned her back on her.

"Aren't you the girl that exploded." She stated, more than asked.

"Uh, yeah! My name's Ruby! But you can call me Crater..." She started to scratch the back of her head nervously, before she stopped with a sigh, "Actually can just call me Ruby."

"Okay." The girl said, her attention clearly back on her book paying the two no mind.

"What are you doing?" Yang whispered, turning to her younger sister

"I don't know, help me." Ruby said before both went back to looking at the black haired girl with a forced smile.

"So..." Yang started, "What's your name."

She sighed, clearly wanting the sisters to leave her to her book. "Blake." Was the simple answer.

"Well, Blake, I'm Yang!" She introduced herself, pointing a finger at herself. "Ruby's older sister! I like your bow!"

"Thanks." Blake irritably replied.

"It goes great with your… pajamas!" Yang continued to try and keep the conversation, failing miserably.

Blake didn't pay her no mind and kept her eyes peeled on the book in her hands, "Right..."

Ruby laughs uncomfortably, as Yang attempted to start the conversation again, "Nice night, don't you think?"

"Yes." Blake said, finally looking up from her book seeing as all her attempts to concentrate on her book failed with the two sisters' talking. "It's lovely, almost lovely as this book…" She started, hoping they would get the message. Upon seeing their smiles, and not any attempt to walk away, She continued, "That I will continue to read..." Still there was nothing but the awkward smile on Ruby's face and the sly one on Yang's. "As soon as you leave."

"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause." Yang finally admitted to her younger sibling, ready to call it quits.

"What's it about?" Ruby asked, getting a confused look from Blake. "Your book. Does it have a name?" She innocently asked.

"Well..." Blake started, clearly not expecting the question. "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body."

"Oh, yeah..." Yang began, not really sure why someone would like to read that. "That's really lovely..."

"I love books." Ruby said as she stepped forward. "Yang used to read stories every night before. Stories of heroes and monsters..." She said bring out old memories. "They're the reasons I want to be a Huntress."

Blake laughed a little at that, "And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

"Well, I'm hopping that we all will." Ruby started, "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the book… Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!" Ruby finished determinedly.

"That's… very ambitious for a child." Blake's smile shifted into a frown, "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

"Well, that's why we're here. To make it better." Ruby said innocently.

"Oh, I am so proud of my baby sister!" Yang gushed, sweeping her younger sibling off her feet into a bear hug.

"Cut it out!" Ruby cried struggling to kick out of the hold the blonde had on her. All while Blake looked on awkwardly as the forced sibling bonding turned in a dust cloud of fighting limbs.

The situation only got worse from there as a certain white haired heiress stomped over, "What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of trying to sleep?" Yelled Weiss making the girls stop tumbling, with Ruby just pinning Yang's leg.

"Yeah, I'm sure that your high-pitched squeal is serenading everyone, Princess. I'm pretty sure they heard you from Patch." A new voice teased, making the all four turn to see Silber, who had a slight smirk on his face.

"I told you I would see you around, Ruby." Silber said, looking down to the silver-eyed girl.

Weiss on the other hand was not very pleased at the second interruption from the teen, "How dare you!" the Schnee screamed at him, "You think you're funny? You think that making jokes makes this any less serious? Just because you've never experienced the sense of lose in your life doesn't give you the right to joke about me or anyone here!" That made Silber winced, but it went ignored by the heiress, though not by a pair of sisters and a girl that just wanted to read, "So please do everyone a favor an-"

"And shut you up?" Silber said with a sharp edge to his voice, surprising the four girls, "Because seriously, Heiress" a shiver went up Weiss's spine at hearing the suppressed anger in his voice, "I'm trying to be a nice guy, but you don't even know the meaning of the word 'loss'. The only loss you know is losing a teddy bear that daddy could buy a thousand of and have them delivered in 4 hours. You don't know what it's like to be alone and you don't know me, so don't act like it and say I haven't experienced loss."

If looks could kill, Silber would have been locked up for cold blooded murder. Weiss stayed there for a moment, looking for an answer that never came, something to shut up the accusations. She was clearly caught off guard by his sudden change in attitude, as were the other three girls. So the Schnee did the only logical thing that came to mind and turned around, making her way back to her mattress.

Silber sighed while closed his eyes, 'Great job, genius. Yell in front of the only person you had a positive interaction with all day.' He turned around and saw the looks he was receiving from the three remaining girls that surrounded him. "Sorry if I ruined your nights. I-I'll just… go." Silber breathed out, leaving the trio to sit in awkward silence.

"...Come on, Rubes, we're gonna need our sleep for tomorrow." Yang said turning to her little sister.

"Yeah." Ruby agreed, though she still looked at Silber as she walked back to her mattress. For some reason, she felt that he talked from experience. Throughout the night she couldn't help but think back to the boy, 'Just what happened to you, Silber?'

Meanwhile, Silber looked out through the ballroom windows to the shattered moon in silence, thinking to himself, 'Damn it, Geist. I can design and build a pair of gauntlets that can bring down entire builds like they were toy bricks, but I can't hold a conversation with anyone other than when I'm almost yelling at them. I wish I could talk to you right about now.'

After staring at the moon for what felt like hours, the teen finally laid down to rest for the trials he'd face the next day.

* * *

 **AN- Sorry there wasn't any action this chapter, but there will be next chapter. I'm currently posting this around 12:25 AM so after I get this posted I'm passing out. XD Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the story, if so favorite, follow, review, and I'll see you guys soon. Peace ~ Deva**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN- Hey guys and wlecome to the next chapter of RWBYS: AfterShock. Here's another late night update for you guys, with the word count at 11,432, the longest entry in any story I've ever written.**

 **So quick shoutouts to Lord Wonton and JcL 107 for following the story, Paulvulturuk for leaving a review, and finally nico2411 for favoriting and following the story and myself. Thank you guys so much for the support, you don't know how much I appreaciate it.**

 **RWBY is property owned by RoosterTeeth and created by Monty Oum. I only own my OCs. Now, without further adieu. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **The Initiation Situation**

Silber Lunom sat up with a start, wincing painfully while holding on to his back at the uncomfortable position he was in, but was grateful for the comfortable mattress compared to the pieces of cardboard and trash bags that he used for the week he was homeless as a bed. Looking around, he found that most of the students were sleeping peacefully, not at all showing signs of someone that in next couple hours were going to be pushed to their limits.

Figuring he wasn't going to get anymore sleep, Silber let out a short sigh, and stood up. Making his way quietly to the bathroom in order to change his clothes in peace and head into the cafeteria he was pointed to the day before.

Silber looked at himself through a mirror in the bathroom, already changed into his Huntsman clothes, and saw the bags forming under his eyes. He was kinda used to the lack of sleep for… various reasons.

Sighing tiredly, he gathered some water in his hands and splashed it in his face, hoping the water will be enough to keep him awake through whatever test Ozzy was gonna throw his way.

"I can't believe we've been at beacon for a full twenty-four hours!" Silber heard an enthusiastic voice as the bathroom door flung open, revealing a pale teen guy with long black hair tied into a ponytail, that ends midway down his back, with a magenta streak on the left side of his hair, and had magenta eyes. He wore a dark green, diagonally buttoned, long sleeved tailcoat with red on the inside, black and gold trimming and pink cuffs, and also wore a pair of light-tan paint with black shoes.

But he wasn't the one that talked; actually, it was the pale, short orange haired, girl that he was with. She had a collared black vest that ended at her waist, with some clothing under it, colored red and light-blue. She also had on a white sleeveless top that had a small heart shape above her chest, and had a pair of pink fingerless gloves. She also sported a pink skirt that ends at her thigh, and had pink and white shoes with pink laces, and also wore some white sleeves that started at her elbows and ended on her biceps.

"Not that I thought we'd get kicked out or anything, I mean, you're the perfect student and I'm well, I'm me!" The girl continued to bounce around as the guy she was with started to brush his teeth.

Silber took the opportunity to leave, finding some peace at being alone for the moment; He quickly made his way to the cafeteria, which was already crowded, and picked up a plate of pancakes with eggs and a slice of toast. He found an empty table and decided to set up shop there.

"Man, I soooo missed breakfast!" He thought to himself as he savored the taste of the meal, deciding to got the slow route, 'Mmm, this is so good, now if only they had some cookies or something.'

Before the accident, Silber would sneak some sweets past Geist, who didn't like them all that much, except for cake. For one reason or another, if cake was around it would have been surprisingly easy to find the man that could turn invisible. Just the one thought lead him to think about more moments like that, putting a sad smile on his face.

He slowly but surely finished breakfast, seeing as some of the other first years started to exit the cafeteria and head to the locker room. Silber gets up and quietly joins the rest of the first years as they file out of the room.

The room was quiet with people either talking lowly amongst themselves or sat silently as they geared up for the trial that was coming closer. The silence was shattered however a strangely familiar high pitch voice came to his ears.

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal!" Shouted the girl Silber saw in the bathroom to the boy she was with as well, before gasping, "A secret signal so we can find each other in the Forrest! Can you imitate a sloth?" She asked, making Silber send a questioning look her way.

"Nora..." The boy said.

"Yes, Ren?" The now identified Nora asked her friend, who sheathed his dual green handguns inside his sleeves.

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." Ren said, making Nora quiet down for a moment.

'That's a good question, do sloths make any noise?" Silber thought to himself, "Or is it like if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound? That guy is asking the right questions.' a smile made it's way onto his face after finishing his train of thought.

"That's why it's perfect!" Nora excitedly claimed, with strong conviction that her plan would work. "No one will suspect we're working together."

"Come on Nora, let's go." Ren said with a smile, as he shut his locker and started walking.

"But not 'together' together." Nora giggled, skipping after Ren with a pep in step.

Silber watched as the pair left, though he stopped when he saw them pass Ruby and Yang.

He kept them both in his sight, thinking to himself, 'Maybe third times the try, what's the worst that can happen?' Then the worse case scenarios started to pop into his head, but he pushed them away. 'I got this.'

"Wonder what those two are so worked up for?" Ruby asked opening her locker.

"Oh, who knows?" Yang said with a smile, "So you seem awfully chipper this morning!"

"Yep! No more awkward small talk or "getting-to-know-you" stuff." Ruby said happily, digging out Crescent Rose and stroke it sighing happily, "Today, I get to let my sweetheart do all the talking."

"Well, remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation." Yang said as she crossed her arms. "If you want to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together."

"Ugh, you sound like dad!" Ruby said in disgust, "Okay, first of all, what does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk." She ended up saying, with huge respect for herself.

"I said that a lot too." Silber said joining the conversation, making the sisters turn to him. "That was two inches ago and look at me, still only a little taller than you." Ruby had a light blush from his comment, while her older sister failed to hold in a snicker.

"See Rubes, he gets it." Yang said slinging an arm on Silber's shoulder surprising him that she was that comfortable around a complete stranger, before turning to him, "Silber, right? I'm Ruby's older sister, Yang."

"Nice to meet you." Silber said with a nervous smile to the older girl, before turning to the younger girl. "Hey, Ruby. I hope you had a better night after my… incident"

"Oh, I did, thank you." Ruby said quickly, not thinking about how rude it sounded before she quickly recovered, "I-I mean I didn't- I did, but didn't- Ugh!" She groaned in frustration at not being able to find the right words.

"I think what she's trying to say is that she could have had a better if she talked to you." Yang suggested with a sly smile on her face, watching the two shorter teens blush.

Thinking quick, Silber noticed Ruby's scythe, "Cool weapon, is that a High Caliber Sniper Scythe." He said, trying to make the situation less awkward.

Ruby visible glowed at the mention of her baby, "Yep! I designed it myself." Ruby chirped proudly making Silber smile widely.

"No way, you too?" He said happily, "I created these too." he raised up his arms to show his gauntlets in their bracer form.

"Ooh, what kind of weapon is it?" Ruby asked excitedly as Yang watched silently with smile at her sister finding someone new to talk to.

"These are pair of gauntlets and what they do..." Silber paused for moment, remembering that Ruby was there that night he went after Roman. "Well, that's a surprise for initiation. Can't give away my tricks, can I?"

Ruby had a pout on her face, obviously wanting to know more about his weapon, Yang decided to take that moment to speak up, turning to her little sister, "Speaking of the initiation, what are you gonna do when we form teams?"

Silber froze, 'Teams!?' He thought to himself. 'I can't be on a team! Not after what happen with...' He stopped himself as he really didn't want to end up on a road of self-pity. 'It's okay, it's okay, maybe Ozpin will understand that I can't be on them right now, being not too long since the accident and all.' He rationalized.

"Uh, I don't know, I'll just be on your team or something..." Ruby said, the blush still present as she looked away form both of them.

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Yang asked as she began to stroke her hair, trying to focus on anything else other than the conversation.

Ruby suddenly got in Yang's face with an accusing finger pointed at her. "My dear sister Yang." She started putting her hand on her hips, "Are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"

"W-What? No! Of course I do." Yang said in her defense, looking to Silber for some sort of help out of the situation, only getting a look that said 'You're on your own'. "I just thought..." She suddenly looked up in thought, "I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of your shell!"

"What the!" Ruby screamed suddenly at her sister, "I don't need to break out of my shell, that's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune said as he passed between the small shouting contest with a small piece of paper in his hand. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday. I would have remembered having to count that high!" he cried out in frustration.

'Really, Jaune?' Silber thought to himself as he walked away from the sisters and saw Jaune stroll past the same redhead hair girl that he noticed yesterday in the auditorium, and the white haired heiress herself. 'And, who might you be?' Silber thought with interest.

"So, Pyrrha," Started Weiss, turning to the towering girl, "Have you given any thought on whose team you would like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well known, individual, such as yourself."

"Hmmm," Hummed the redhead in thought. "I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together." Weiss said hopefully, wanting to be as nice as she could.

"Well, well, Weiss Schnee trying to be nice to someone." Silber said, making the Schnee scowl at him and Pyrrha to turn around in interest at the new arrival. "Color me impressed."

"And who might the lucky person be..." Silber continued, "Maybe the daughter of a famous Huntsman and Huntress, or someone from one of your soirees perhaps?"

"Silber, Is it?" Weiss said as she put each hand on the chests of the redhead and Silber, making her body be between them. "Do you have any idea who you are talking to?" She asked as if it was obvious.

"Um, the person that helps you reach the top shelf." Silber said referring to the redhead's height.

"This is Pyrrha." The shorter girl said pointing to vibrant green-eyed girl.

"Hello." Pyrrha said to him with a friendly wave, which he kindly returned.

"Pyrrha graduated the top of her class at Sanctum." Weiss continued, completely ignoring the fact that Pyrrha was not paying any attention to her and was concentrating solely on Silber and he looked at her too.

"Cool." Silber simply said to the heiress.

"Cool?" Weiss said, sounding insulted. "She won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row… A new record!" She said, emphasizing the last part.

"Is that an eating tournament." Silber asked, but he knew what it really was, he just wanted to annoy the white haired girl. He secretly was impressed with the warrior in front of him, Geist told him a story about him being the tournament and how hard it was.

Weiss getting annoyed at Silber's antics at this point and started thrashing her arms in frustration, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box." She practically shouted, making both of them look at her incredulously.

"Oooh." Silber said, pretending to not to follow her train of thought. "Congratulations?" He ended up asking more than saying.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you." Pyrrha admitted.

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to not know her?" Weiss asked in indignation.

"Well, with the way you put it…" Silber started, making the Schnee let out a sigh of satisfaction, "I still don't know her." He said, making the blue-eyed girl's scowl return.

"Oh, don't worry." Pyrrha comforted as she made her way around the heiress and placed a hand on Silber's shoulder. "I'm sure we'll get to know each other in our time here at Beacon."

"Aw, shucks, you're gonna make me blush." Silber said, before getting closer to Weiss, "See it's not bad being a good person once in awhile."

"Okay, that's a bit close!" Weiss said, taking a quick step away from Silber. "Pyrrha, a little help, please."

Silber turned around to see the tall red head standing there. What he didn't expect to see was a red spear with bronze outlines hurtling its way towards him. Well, there went his good day so far.

As Pyrrha threw her javelin, Miló, she was expecting many things, either the spear would hit the clothes of the brunette as she intended, making him fly away from Weiss, or he would move and end with the spear bouncing off his shoulder because of his aura. She didn't really think of throwing the spear, she just reacted to someone asking for her help, and would apologize soon after.

What Pyrrha didn't expect was for Silber to casually dodge the javelin, like he saw it coming from a mile away, leaving her shocked out of her mind. The javelin ended up snagging poor Jaune by his hoodie and pinned him to a locker. She focused solely on that, making her unable to see Weiss sporting a similar look of disbelief as well.

"You know, I think I'm getting pretty tired of popular people." Silber said, now looking up at the green-eyed warrior girl. "They always think that they can push some people around, because they think themselves the best in the world." Pyrrha dropped her shocked look for one of sadness, clearly ashamed of herself for almost hurting Silber.

"But I'm really, really tired of people trying to hurt me this week." Silber said, making Pyrrha look at him again to see his serious eyes, not at all the goofy and mischievous ones that she saw since meeting him. "So let me tell you something, Miss Cereal mascot hotshot..." He said directly at Pyrrha, not caring that her eyes were clearly telling him that she was ashamed for what she did, or the wince that she did after being called a mascot. "The next time you throw a spear at someone when their back is turned, make sure that they're not always watching his own back at all times." He said sarcastically, with an obviously forced smile.

"I'm so-" Pyrrha started, only for her to be interrupted by him.

"Can it, Pumpkin!" He said in reference to the cereal, "If my experience serves me right, you're just as bad as Snow Princess over there." He pointed at Weiss, "So please, don't talk to me. Ever." He finished.

Pyrrha looked down in disappointment as Silber turned and made his way to his locker to grab his shades and finger-less gloves with the knuckles cut out of them. "Uuh..." a voice called, breaking Pyrrha from her thoughts to see Jaune pinned to a locker with her spear, "A little help please?"

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha apologized as she made her way over to him.

"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation?" Came the voice of Glynda Goodwitch in a speaker, "Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Silber made his way in silence, looking straight ahead, alone in the crowd. 'Just what am I going to do?' He thought while mindlessly following the rest of the students he was with. 'I just can't have a team. I couldn't live with myself if someone else got hurt and I can't go through losing someone again.'

Silber was so lost in his mind that he ended up ignoring Ruby and Yang's attempt to call him. Getting to the cliff by himself.

* * *

 **Beacon Cliff**

Standing on one of the many gray pads that Ozpin and Glynda kindly gestured to the students, he couldn't help but look at the clear blue sky, the lush green forest below, and all of the students lined up beside him, especially Ruby and Jaune, since they were the ones that were to his left and right, respectively.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors," Ozpin started off, "and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda quickly took over, "Now, I'm sure many of have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… today."

'What!?' Silber thought with wide eyes. 'no, no, noo!"

He even heard Ruby let out worried "What?" of her own. And some whispers amongst the other students.

Ozpin chose to continue the explanation this time, "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Silber again heard Ruby letting out some sort of sound which he could only describe as one of panic and protest.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ozpin finished, casually taking a swig from the cup of coffee he had in hand.

This time neither Silber nor Ruby could keep their voices down, "What?!"

'Ok, ok, ok, how in the hell am I going to do this?!' Silber thought to himself in panic, 'I gotta think of something quick.'

Nora turned to Ren nonchalantly, "See? I told you!" She said, as if it was something common.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest." Ozpin continued, unfazed by the sudden outburst. "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

Whether from the stress of the situation or wanting to see some people's reaction, Silber chose to speak right there. "No pressure, right." He said, making everyone look at him like he certifiably crazy, except for Nora, who was really excited about the whole situation. "At least we won't be losing our dignity, or our bank accounts."

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation." Ozpin said with a slight smirk now present, "But our instructors will not intervene." He finished as he dropped the smirk. "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah." Silber said, as he saw the number of people looking at him, "There are seventeen of us, which last time I checked is an odd number. So someone's not going to have a partner."

Ozpin thought about it for a slim moment, "Observant eye, Mister Lunom. As for the one person that is unable to find a partner, they will be graded like the rest of the students, though I do not recommend being said person."

"Okay, thanks for clarifying, sir." Silber replied, though in the back of his mind he was celebrating like there was no tomorrow. 'I just need to not make eye contact with anyone that isn't partnered and I'm home free!'

"Are there any other questions?" Ozpin asked as the students got ready for lift off.

"Y-Yeah, um, sir.?" Jaune asked, nervously raising a hand.

"Good." Ozpin said simply ignoring the blonde knight, as the first student was launched.

"Um, sir, I have a question." Jaune said a little louder this time, while everyone watched as Weiss was lobbed into the air. "So this landing strategy thing, uh, what is it? You're like dropping us off or something?"

"No." Ozpin stated calmly, "You will be falling."

"Oh, I see, so did you like, hand out parachutes for us?" Jaune questioned again as one by one the other students were sent flying.

"No." Ozpin replied again simply, "You will be using your own landing strategy."

Silber watched as Yang sent a wink towards him and Ruby before putting on some aviators and sent flying. And saw Ruby give him a small smirk as she too was sent flying.

Silber took his position as he bent his knees and flicked his shades down, though he couldn't help but speak again, "Hey, Oz Man." He called, getting Ozpin's attention with a raised brow. "I think your coffee is cold." He smirked before being sent off with a loud cheer of "Oh Yeahh!", leaving Jaune to be the only student left on the cliff.

"Uh, what exactly is the landing strategYYY!" Jaune screamed, suddenly being launched off the cliff as well. Ozpin simply watched the cloud of students in the sky and nonchalantly took a sip of his coffee.

Silber could feel the wind rushing over his entire body, the feeling of weightlessness felt amazing. Looking around, He could see several people using their weapons to come up with a landing strategy, like Ruby and Yang using the guns in their weapons to alter their speed or flight path, while some decided to use their environment for help, like Ren using the blades on his pistols to stab into a tree, and Pyrrha crashes through several trees and rolls on a branch. He could see her javelin shift into a rifle to look through the scope to see Jaune, as he continues to scream and fall helplessly.

Pyrrha coolly transforms her rifle back into it's javelin, and takes a moment to evaluate her throw, and rockets the javelin deep into the forest, once again pinning Jaune for the second time that day, this time to a tree.

"Thank you!" Jaune hollered from halfway from across the forest.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha shouted back.

"Well, Silber." Silber said to himself, "Let's get the ball rolling on this." Flicking his wrist, his gauntlets unfolded in a few seconds with a couple whirs and clicks before being combat ready. He fired off a pulse, sending him straight as he neared the ground and with the use of another blast, slowed down enough to grab onto the limb of a tree and with little effort spun himself on top of the limb.

"Damn, I'm good." He grinned, "I can avoid more Grimm this way, it's a lot faster, and more importantly, there's less of a chance of someone making eye contact with me." He said aloud, before leaping to the next branch.

* * *

Somewhere else in the forest, Ruby landed with a thud. 'Got to find Yang, got to find Yang, got to find.' Ruby thought as she rushed through the forest. "Yaaang!" She finally shouted, hoping to find her sister as fast as she could. "Yaaaang!"

'Ugh, this is bad. This is really bad!" Ruby mentally groaned, continuing to dash, quickly covering as much of the dense forest as she could, 'What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first?' She thought, thinking of any other possible partners besides her sister. 'There's always Jaune. He's nice He's funny! ...I don't think he's very good in a fight, though.' She tried thinking of another person. 'Oh!' She excitedly thought again, 'What about Blake? So mysterious, so calm. Plus she likes books! Then again, I'm not sure if I'd be able to hold a conversation with her. Ugh, okay, who else do I know in this school?'

She suddenly stopped in her track and started running again, "Silber! There's Silber as well! He's nice, he's funny, he's mysterious, he's calm, and I think he also likes books!' She thought, 'He's almost the perfect combination of Yang, Jaune, and Blake.' She then looked down sadly, 'He also seems to feel alone, and seems to be hurt.' She thought, remembering the times where Silber talked to Weiss and Pyrrha. 'Silber or Yang are the best options right now!'

Ruby looked up again, only for her to stop in her tracks as she saw the white form of a certain Schnee heiress in front of her.

The sudden noise of friction made Weiss turn around, seeing the youngest person ever to be in Beacon. For a pregnant moment, they stood there looking each other in the eyes as if acknowledging the other for the first time. That was until Weiss curtly turned on her heels and walked away from Ruby.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Asked the younger girl with a shocked expression, while trying to follow the heiress for a little bit before looking down. "We're supposed to be teammates..." She muttered sadly while kicking the ground.

Pushing her way through some bushes and low hanging branches, Weiss tried to put as much distance between her and the black and red wearing girl as possible. Though the sudden sound of Jaune mumbling in the tree above her made the Schnee look up at him, hanging from a tree by a familiar red and bronze javelin.

Looking down, Jaune saw Weiss and gave her a nervous wave with a little laugh, making the heiress turn back around and walk the other way, while the blonde swordsman slumped down as he dangled from the well-aimed javelin.

Making her back to Ruby, Weiss walked past her and dragged the girl by the hood of her red cloak. "By no means does this make us friends." She stated firmly.

Ruby on the other hand, was excited as she let herself be dragged by the older girl, "You came back!" She shouted throwing her hands up.

Jaune could only watch as the girls departed, leaving him literally hanging. "Hey, wait! Come back! Who's going to get me down from here?" He asked hopelessly as he began working on loosening the javelin from the trunk of the tree.

That was until he heard a voice below him, "Jaune?" Asked Pyrrha, remembering the name from roll call before starting the initiation. Looking down, Jaune saw the red head with her arms crossed, "Do you… have any spots left on your team?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jaune replied, trying to sound as cool as a person hanging from a javelin could be, before welcoming the javelin wielder with open arms.

Back with Silber, He was covering as much ground as fast as he could towards the north side of the forest, wanting to be back to the cliff with whatever relic Ozpin placed before someone without a teammate could make eye contact with him. "At least you know how to give a guy a workout, Ozzy." Silber said talking to himself.

"Hellooooo?" A voice shouted, recognizing the voice as Yang's, Silber quickly came to a stop on a tree limb. He saw her looking around the forest, alone, meaning that she didn't have a partner. Shit. Keeping his back to the trunk of the tree, he made sure that Yang wouldn't be able to see him, but kept a cautious eye on her just in case the loud noises she was making didn't get her in any trouble.

"Is anyone out there?" She shouted again, moving to a small clearing. "Hellooooo? I'm getting bored here."

'Trust me, I got some jokes that could have you rolling.' Silber thought to himself, 'Even some of the bad ones Geist made.'

Suddenly, some bushes behind her rustled, making Yang quickly turn around. "Is someone there?" She crept closer to the moving bushes, "Ruby is that you?" But the only answer she received was a low growl before she saw a black mass raise up. "Nope." She said finally, leaping out of the way of clawed swipe from an Ursa, rolling to a stop as her gauntlets shifted, ready to attack.

She did a back handspring to avoid another attempted swipe, and saw that she was dealing with two Ursa. The new Ursa rushed at her for another lunge, but was met with a fiery punch from the blonde, knocking it back. The other Ursa and Yang charge at each other, managing to get under it, she delivers several punches and a kick to send the monster back.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you." She asked at the two downed Grimm as they got back up.

The inhuman growl from one of them was the only answer Yang got. "You could just say no!" She told the charging beasts.

Crouching to dodge a swipe, she did a back handspring to dodge another two swipes, just barely missing her, She stopped to laugh at her two opponents, laughing sarcastically, "Geez, you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba-" She stopped mid-taunt suddenly as she saw a golden strand of hair gently floating down to the ground.

Silber watched this confused for a second before Yang spoke lowly, "You..." she closed her lilac eyes. Opening them again, the soft lilac color gave way to a murderous red as she reeled her fists back, generating an explosion behind her.

Using the shotgun in her gauntlets, Yang rocketed forward as fast as she could at the nearest Grimm, unleashing a devastating flurry of flaming hits and blows on the Ursa, sending it flying through several now burning trees. The other Grimm ran over to the blonde, but stops short as Yang's gaze shifts to it, while a tree falls to the ground behind her.

"What?! You want some too?!" She angrily asked.

The only response she got was a low roar as the Ursa stood up, trying to make itself look as big as possible. Only for a short slashing sound to be heard, and the Ursa to fall onto it's side, revealing the black and white form of Blake Belladonna, retrieving Gambol Shroud from the corpse of the Ursa.

Sheathing her weapon, Blake shot a low smirk at the panting girl.

The silence was short lived though, as Yang finally caught her breath enough to speak, "I could have taken him."

"Boy, could you." Silber said letting his presence be known to the two Huntresses in-training, "Heard the battle from a mile, decided to check out the party, guess I'm late for finding either of you as my teammate?"

"Yeah, just a second earlier, and you would be partners with this hot stuff." Yang replied, completely forgetting the anger at her lost hair, as she jabbed her thumb to herself.

Silber looked around at the destruction the older teen made in her rage. "Yeah," he commented, before smirking, "Guess you didn't like Smokey the Bear as a kid, huh?"

Blake surprisingly let a small smirk loose, while Yang went into full blown laughter, "Oh man, If that bear saw what I did, he would strangle me for sure!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Silber replied.

"Come on then," Blake said, "Wouldn't want to be in another fight so soon." She turned around and started to trek northward.

"Y-yeah." Silber said, hoping out of the tree as both him and Yang followed the raven haired girl. "I'll just third wheel with you guys and hope to find someone on the way."

"Sure, use that as an excuse to be around two girls." Yang teased with a smirk, seeing as Silber's face was red like a tomato.

* * *

Back on top of the Cliff, Professor Glynda Goodwitch walked over to her boss, with her scroll in hand. "Our last pair has been formed, sir." She informed as she pressed the video feed following Ren and Nora. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy, I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's a lot better of than Ms. Nikos."

She only received a slight "Hmm." from Ozpin in acknowledgment that he was listening to her.

"I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat." Glynda continued, used to the way Ozpin was after many years of working with him. "And there's also Mr. Lunom." She proceeded, "Who ended up without a partner by his own choice when he decided not to help Ms. Xiao Long before Ms. Belladonna stepped in. I still say that that boy needs more time to grieve than ten minutes in a police interrogation room." Glynda concluded as she began to packing back and forth.

"Either way, at their current pace, they should reach the temple within in just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" Upon receiving no answer, she tried pressing on, "Professor Ozpin."

Though she only received another "Hmm" in return as he more concentrated on the video feeds showing Ruby Rose and Silber Lunom.

* * *

Silber was talking with while they were walking to a small hill. "… so he comes in after the Dust blew up in my face, with the red Dust still lingering in the room and he said "Man, its Dusty in here" no one laughed but he kept going, "I hope the Dust bunnies didn't kill your cleaning fairy" then he sneezed causing another explosion and he was screaming "I bit my tongue" and I said "Another one bites the Dust."

Yang burst out laughing, and Blake sported another small smirk, "Those were the worst jokes I've ever heard!" She said in hysteria.

"I know!" Silber replied, letting out a laugh of his own.

The laughing stopped as they reached a semicircular looking temple, or rather what was left of it as the years took its toll as it got further from it's former glory.

"Think this is it?" Yang asked both of them, only getting a silent shrug from Blake.

"Well, if it isn't, it sure could make a great postcard picture. I can imagine the tag, "I survived Beacon Initiation"." Silber replied as he made his way down the hill with the girls.

Once reaching the temple, they found some short columns, designed for decoration, on top of them were the relics. "Chess pieces?" Asked Blake, as the group of golden and black chess pieces were the only ones left.

"Some of them are missing." Yang pointed out. "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Or, someone was playing game of chess here." Silber offered, looking at the pieces himself.

"Well..." Blake started, unsure if it's this easy, "I guess we should pick one."

Yang looked closely at the golden knight piece, before picking it up, "How about a cute little pony?" She asked her partner as Silber was looking at the remaining pieces.

Blake rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile at the blonde's actions. "Sure."

"That wasn't too hard!" Yang bragged as her other two comrades made their way to middle of the temple.

"Well, its not like this place is very difficult to find." Blake tried reasoning.

Suddenly, a girlish scream echoed from the forest. "Some girl is in trouble." Said Yang.

Silber couldn't help himself from looking in the direction the scream came from, "Silber, Blake, did you hear that?" Yang asked.

After a few seconds, Yang turned around seeing Blake looking up at the sky and Silber looking at the direction of the scream, "Did you guys hear that?" She asked again. "What should we do?"

Then all of a sudden, they heard another girl screaming, but this time above them, "Heads up!" Ruby screamed, falling from the sky.

That was until Jaune's body crashed into hers, sending both of them into a nearby tree.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Asked Blake turning to Yang, who didn't have any answer for that.

Then suddenly an Ursa came, thrashing wildly and knocking trees down, and after a few seconds, they could see all why. They heard a loud "Yeehaw!" coming from the Grimm's back, as Nora sent the Ursa tumbling to the ground. "Aw, it's broken." She whined in disappointment.

They also saw Ren, panting heavily after trying to keep up with his friend, "Nora! Please! Don't ever do that again."

But Nora was already gone, looking curiously at a golden tower chess piece with interest before snatching it and singing, "I'm Queen of the castle! I'm Queen of the castle!"

But she stopped when Ren shouted for her, "Nora!"

Nora stopped everything and saluted with a laugh, "Coming, Ren!" She said before bolting off to her friend.

The dumbstruck look on Yang's face was almost priceless for Silber, who wished he had his scroll to snap a picture as Blake asked, "Did that girl just ride on an Ursa?"

"I believe she did." Silber replied, thinking to himself, 'Note: research practicality of mountable Ursai.'

They were again met with the sight of another Grimm crashing through the tree line, But this time it was a Death Stalker pursuing Pyrrha as she was trying her hardest to put as much distance between her and the Grimm as possible. "Jaune!"

This made Jaune look from the tree he was in, "Pyrrha!" And a groan made him realize who he was in the tree with, "Ruby!"

Ruby jumped down from the tree, landing close to the temple where Blake and Yang were. "Ruby?" Her sister asked surprised.

At seeing her sister, Ruby threw her hands up in excitement, "Yang!" She shouted as they enveloped each other in a hug.

But they were interrupted suddenly as an orange haired, pink wearing girl got in between shouting "Nora!"

"Where's Silber?" Blake asked, as the only male that was with her and Yang suddenly went missing.

Silber made a mad dash at the Death Stalker chasing Pyrrha, his gauntlets charging up before he deliver a punch to the Grimm making it tumble in a mass of limbs, clearly dazed. "Silber!" She screamed, not sure why the guy went head on with the Grimm. Everyone near the temple looked at the scene with shocked expressions at seeing someone hit a Death Stalker like he did.

"Hey, fancy meeting you here!" Silber replied before firing off a pulse that sent the monster crashing back into some trees. From the sidelines, Ruby recognized the gauntlets on the boy's arms and projectile they shot, "Silber's the Shocker?!"

Yang, along with the others, watched as Pyrrha and Silber bolted away from the Grimm. "Are you hurt anywhere?" Silber asked, concerned for the girl's well-being.

That made Pyrrha look down at him as they continued to run, and Silber could tell she was hurt about something, "I-I'm so sorry, Silber." She said, completely ignoring the fact that they were running for their lives as the giant Grimm stirred from it's dizziness. "I shouldn't have done what I did, I just reacted when Weiss asked for my help."

Silber was left flabbergasted, here he was, in what was practically a death race against a giant scorpion, trying to save Pyrrha, and the only thing she was thinking about was the incident before initiation. "Don't worry about it" He said, trying to ignore the fact that his face was burning up a little from embarrassment.

"B-but I…!" Pyrrha started, looking into Silber's eyes, confused as to why someone forgive what she did so easily.

"Don't worry." Silber calmly said, somehow forgetting about the whole "running from giant scorpion death machine" situation. "You made a mistake and you're sorry for it, that's good enough for me."

They finally made it back to the group, now joined by Jaune and Weiss as well. "Whats up?" Silber asked as he walked towards the group, "Had to take the Death Stalker on a jog, you know the usual."

"Great, the gang's all here." Yang said seeing the two rejoining the group. "Now we can all die together." She said sarcastically

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby answered, going after the Death Stalker with a battle cry.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang called after her little sister, though it ended up falling on deaf ears.

Ruby herself was pretty confident, using the recoil to gain speed as she reached up with her scythe to strike the Death Stalker, only for it to smack the small girl onto her back with one of it's pincers.

Ruby started to get up, trying to ignore the pain she was feeling, "D-Do-Don't worry!" She called back to the group, "Totally fine." She turned around to, finding herself face to face with the giant Grimm.

Firing at the armor on it's face, Ruby used the recoil to zip back from it, trying to out run the giant death machine.

Yang started sprinting at her sister, "RUBY!" She shouted, unaware of someone following her as she ran.

The thing no one expected was for a Nevermore to make a surprise appearance, screeching loudly as it fired it's feathers at the girls, luckily, neither of them were hit, but one of the projectiles pinned the red cloak of the silver-eyed girl and the rest made it to where Yang was unable to reach her.

Pulling as hard as she could on her hood, Ruby tried anything to get out of the bind as she heard her sister calling for her, "Ruby, get out of there!"

"I'm trying!" The younger teen replied, struggling to free her hood, only to stop as the Death Stalker ready to strike.

Ruby saw the Death Stalker's tail going directly at her face before she closed her silver eyes and covered her face, bracing herself for the pain the stinger would inflict going through her body. What she didn't expect to hear a boom and a screech from the Death Stalker.

Lowering her arms and opening her eyes, all Ruby could see was Silber's back to her as he faced the Grimm that was knocked back a few yards, "S-Silber?" She lowly asked.

"You know," Silber started, turning to the pinned girl, "I think a human sacrifice wasn't necessary. Now let's get you out of here." He grabbed onto the feather that had her hood pinned, and started to channel vibrations into it. The cracks slowly forming as the brunette spoke, "I-I.." Ruby started looking down as Silber kept working on getting her free. "I wanted to show everyone I could do this." She said as her eyes started to water, not able to see that Silber looking at her now. "I'm so sorry, you probably think I'm a show-off."

"I don't think that." Silber quickly replied, making Ruby's watery eyes look up at him in surprise, "You have a lot of self-confidence trying to take that thing down by yourself, that's bravery in my book." The quill of the large feather finally crumbles after being subjected to the vibrations long enough, freeing the cloaked girl.

Yang finally made it towards the duo, "Oh, I'm so happy you're okay!" She said to her sister pulling her into a surprise hug.

Silber took the opportunity to look over at the Death Stalker, seeing it caught by it's tail in a wall of ice as everyone converged on the trio's spot, he heard the Schnee start shouting at Ruby.

"You're fine." He heard Weiss say to the brunette before walking back to the temple.

He also heard Ruby whispering to herself as she was left alone to walk back when the other teens made their way back to the temple, "Normal knees..."

"Well, I think it's safe to say that, in our line of normal is the last thing you're gonna get." Silber said catching Ruby by surprise as she thought that no one heard her.

"S-Silber!" She shouted, as she turned to see the black and silver haired teen, "I wanted to thank you so much for saving me back there!" She said with a big smile gracing her face.

"What, for that?" Silber asked, trying to play it off, "That was nothing." he said, only receiving a small scowl from the cloaked girl as she could see through the act. "I-I mean, don't you think we should get back with the others?" He pointed out, getting a small nod from the girl and started making their way back. It was awkward for Silber, being thanked for saving someone, but he knew it would never take back what happened, no matter how many people he'd save.

Yang looked back at him, "So you're the "Shocker", huh?" She asked with a smirk, as some of the others looked at him.

"Please, don't call me that. I hate that name" Silber groaned at the mention of the media's alias for him.

Ruby turned to him, "So why were you going after Roma-" She started to say, before being interrupted by Jaune.

"Guys," Jaune started, getting everyone's attention, "That thing's circling back." He pointed up at the Nevermore, "What are we going to do?"

Weiss took that moment to make her point heard, "Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us."

"She's right." Silber agreed, seeing as Ruby was trying to talk to him again. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and tail it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things when we don't have to."

"Run and live." Jaune said, "That is an idea I can get behind."

Ruby reluctantly separated from Silber as she and Jaune went to grab a relic, taking the golden knight and golden tower pieces respectively. "Wait," Yang said as Ruby and Jaune pocketed the relics, "What about Silber?" She asked, making everyone turn towards her, "I mean, he doesn't have a partner."

They all started looking at the teen in question, who was in a very awkward situation, "Well," He started off, "I figured that I was the one that ended up without a partner. My guess is that I get out of here too." He said, before lowly muttering out, "I'm used to rolling solo." He started to make his way towards the relics as everyone turned around, ready to head back to the cliffs.

Silber saw that no-one was looking at him as he quietly let out a sigh. He made the calculations of the pillars and relics, there were only eight relics total. That meant if he took one, he would be denying access to the school to two potential Huntsmen or Huntresses. He weighed the options, and made his decision as he reached a hand to a relic.

Meanwhile back on the cliff, Professor Ozpin looked down and watched the video feed of Silber with mild interest as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Silber, you ready?" Ruby asked as she looked at him over her shoulder.

"Yeah, let's go." He said, pulling his hand from his pocket and made his way over to the group.

Suddenly, they all heard the ice cracking as the Death Stalker struggled to free itself, making Ren turn to everyone else, "Time we left."

"Right!" Silber said, before his mouth twitched into a small smirk, "Is it just me or do think that giant scorpion is just misunderstood and secretly want's to talk to us about it's feelings?" The ice started to crack even more, "Or, not. Let's go!" He shouted as everyone started making their way back to the cliffs.

Making their way to the pillars close to the cliff, the group found the Nevermore had made it's way ahead of them, making them use the pillars for cover as it landed on the pillar closest to the cliff and let out a sharp screech.

"Well, that's great." Yang replied in annoyance.

Suddenly, the trees behind them crashed as the Death Stalker returned to the fray, "You think they wanna mix it up with us?" Silber asked.

"Nora, distract it!" Ren commanded as the Nevermore shot some feathers at the group, making them dodge as best they could, only for Nora to pull out a grenade launcher and hit the Nevermore in the face.

Having been left behind, Nora turned to find the Death Stalker right in front of her, only for Ren and Blake to appear and slash at it while Weiss used one of her glyphs to get them back to safety.

Running from the Death Stalker, Pyrrha stopped on a bridge as the rest made their way past her while she was shooting at it, only for the Nevermore to fly and attack the bridge, making Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Yang, and Weiss be on one side, while Silber, Blake, Pyrrha, and Ren were on the other side, with the Death Stalker.

Looking at the other side of the bridge, Jaune saw that all of them were attacking the Death Stalker, Ren and Pyrrha from range and Peter and Blake were going in for close combat.

Silber tried making any of his hits to start damaging the giant Grimm, but the tail and pincers were proving difficult for him to land a solid hit. Seeing Blake being thrown back, Silber decide to take the open spot the Death Stalker made and dashed forward, leaping into the air before bringing his fist crashing down on the bony structure on the monster's back.

The sudden crack heard throughout the area was probably bad news for everyone, thinking that Silber broke his hand in that attack as he foolishly hit something stronger than steel with his hand. That stopped as the Grimm let out a piercing screech, clearly in pain as it backed down a little, while Silber didn't rub his hand after the hit. "And they say that I shouldn't play with animals."

He stopped as he saw Nora landing on top of the giant monster, a strike with her hammer just above the large crack Silber made. Avoiding the counterattack of the Grimm, Nora fired her hammer and pushed herself off, and blocked the stinger with the hammer, making her slide back. Unfortunately, Nora ended up bumping into Blake, making her fall off the bridge.

"Blake!" Silber shouted as he jumped after her. Being as straight as he could, he made his descent faster as he caught up with the falling girl. As he caught her by the waist, he saw as she used her ribbons to make them land on the Nevermore.

As Blake slashed at the back of the Grimm, Silber smashed the beast's face with a punch before both of them jumped off and onto the other side of the bridge.

Blake took the opportunity and made her way back to Yang, "It's tougher than it looks!"

Yang simply pumped the shotguns in her gauntlets, "Then let's hit it with everything we've got."

"Count me in too." Silber said as he joined the four girls in shooting at the giant bird.

The Nevermore dodged a lot of the barrage sent it's way and any shots that did hit didn't faze other than making have to adjust to keep up it's flight path. Suddenly, it changes course heading right for the columns, "Watch out!" Silber shouted, but was too late as the tower they were on crumbled at the swipe.

With all four girls falling to their death, Silber racked his brain on a way to save them all, but then he realized that they started to make their way up the falling rubble. Making a dash as well, Silber watched as the girls used their weapons, or in Weiss's case glyphs, to make their way up to the bridge in what was for him with a charge from his gauntlets, a single jump.

Making his way over to Ruby and Weiss, Silber looked to see them all made it up okay, and sighed in relief at the confirmation.

 **[Music Start: Red Like Roses Part II]**

Weiss, however was looking at the Grimm, "None of this is working!"

"I have a plan!" Ruby called to her partner, "Cover me!" She dashed off as Weiss raised her blade and headed into the fray. Silber checked on the other four members of their little group and was surprised to see them standing behind the dead Death Stalker, turning around, he saw that Yang made contact with the Nevermore's face, getting it's attention.

Making a b-line towards the blonde, the Grimm didn't expect her to keep it's mouth open as she started to fire into it's mouth screaming, "I! Hope! You're! Hun-gry!" She turned and leapt away from the giant bird as it crashed against the cliff and landed on the ground.

Seeing Weiss attacking, Yang stepped back, continuing the plan. Weiss was able to freeze the creature's tail as it tried to take flight again, keeping it grounded.

Silber saw as Blake and Yang wrapped some ribbons around their pillars like a slingshot as Ruby jumped, using her scythe to land on the make shift bungee. He also saw Weiss use a glyph to pull Ruby in, making the ribbon stretch further.

"Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss commented, though she didn't stop.

"Think you can make the shot?" Was Ruby's only reply.

"Hmpf. Can I?" Weiss asked with sarcasm.

Unfortunately, Ruby didn't catch on for a moment, missing the obvious sarcasm. "...Can-"

"Of course I can!" Weiss answered indignantly.

The discussion to longer than anyone anticipated as the Grimm let some feathers in order to kill the Huntresses.

Having no way of getting out of the way in time, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and yang could only stare shocked at the speeding jet black feathers coming at them. The shock only grew as they saw Silber's back facing them, standing right in front of them as the feathers sped closer.

Ignoring the shouts from the girls screaming his name at him, Silber closed his eyes, before raising up both of his gauntlets. Taking a deep breath, he could feel the air shifting as the first feather came at him. He wasted no time and used a punch to knock the feather into the abyss beneath the bridge. Opening his eyes, he shot his gauntlets to run along an oncoming feather, changing it's course before leaping onto another projectile and doing the same to the others, being able to change the course of all of them before kicking off of the last one, knocking it off course as well.

Using the momentum from the kick and the run, Silber was able to deliver a straight punch to the Nevermore's head, not only knocking chunks out of it's mask, but also pushing the bird against the cliff face as Ruby shot out of her makeshift slingshot.

Using the recoil from her scythe, Ruby quickly caught up with the giant Grimm, even if she spared a look at Silber's falling form. Weiss wasted no time and formed glyphs along the wall, allowing Ruby to use her semblance and gun to start running up the wall with the Nevermore's head in the crook of her scythe. Reaching the top, Ruby was able to decapitate the flying Grimm, landing on top of the cliff as the Grimm's body slowly dissolved as it made its way down.

Unfortunately for Silber, he was in the falling corpse's way. "Oh, I have had enough shit from you!" He shouted, raising his gauntlets at the falling body. He unleashed a blast that caused a burst of dust to kick up completely covering Silber, as the shot hit the dissolving body, obliterating it. The other teens watched the display of power in awe.

"Well, that was a thing." They all heard Yang say as they looked to see Ruby standing on the cliff with rose petals flowing through the wind, as Silber walked out of the dust cloud unfazed, while a couple rose petals gently fell to the ground.

* * *

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark." Ozpin called as claps from everyone could be heard as two giant holographic screens showed the faces of four teens. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team CRDL. Lead by Cardin Winchester."

The new team made their way off of the stage making room for other teens to take their place. "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie." The claps sounded again, before retreating to allow Ozpin to talk, "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team JNPR." Nora looked like she was gonna burst if she held her excitement in a second longer as she grabbed an unsuspecting Ren enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug, while Pyrrha smiled at her antics. "Lead by… Jaune Arc." The clapping started up again as Jaune stared incredulously at the headmaster, while Pyrrha smiled at him.

"L-Lead by..." Jaune said in disbelief.

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin said calm nature conflicted the look of confusion Jaune had.

"Pyrrha took the moment to punch her team's leader in the shoulder as a congratulations, but the hit caused the poor confused boy to fall to the floor, making a few students roar in laughter.

They as well made their way off stage as the next group got on stage. "And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team RWBY. Lead by Ruby Rose." Weiss couldn't keep her shocked expression in check as she stared at her partner, who shared the same expression, but was quickly caught off guard by Yang.

"I'm so proud of you!" The older sister gushed as she hugged Ruby.

They stepped down as the clapping died, leaving Ozpin to be the only one on stage. "Silber Lunom." He simply called, though this time no-one clapped as his picture was presented on a holo-screen, as Silber made his way up on stage, feeling very uncomfortable.

Walking to the center of the stage, he came face to face with Ozpin. "You did not bring any of the relics back with you." Ozpin started, getting confused looks from teams RWBY and JNPR as they recalled there being some relics for the black and silver haired teen to pick up, "Why did you chose not to grab one when you had the chance?" Ozpin questioned, asking the question that went through both teams' minds

Silber stayed quiet for moment, trying to keep his cool as he felt all the eyes in the room stare at him. "W-Well, I was the only one left without a partner." He stated getting a nod from the silver haired headmaster, "And I noticed that there were only eight pillars at the temple were the relics were, meaning that there was just eight relics total, right?" Again, he only received a nod, "So being the part-time genius I am, I did some small math and realized that there enough relics for sixteen people, not seventeen." Silber continued as he saw Ozpin smirk at him, making relax a little. "So I ended up thinking, 'If I take a relic, I would be denying two other people from getting through initiation.' I would end up having to fill the gap for two people that are older than me, and they wouldn't be tested, which, isn't fair to them."

Ruby stared wide eyed at Silber as Yang whispered to her, "See! I told you there was someone else that was moved up like you."

Ruby looked over to her sister, "Yeah, but what's going to happen to him now?"

"That's why I decided not to take one." Silber concluded.

Ozpin stayed silent for moment, though the smirk was still present from Silber's response, "That's, surprisingly noble, especially for someone your age." He said, getting a small smile from Silber, "Normally, a pair that didn't retrieve a relic wouldn't be admitted to the school." Ozpin continued as he pushed his spectacles back up, making team RWBY and team JNPR worried for their friend, though in varying degrees, but Silber never faltered, expecting the treatment he was receiving when he made his choice. "But, seeing as you were not only able to communicate, but comprehend and contribute in the plan of one of the teams, I'm willing to make an exception if said team is as well." Ozpin kept going, making Silber's eyes widen with shock.

"Team RWBY, would you take Mister Lunom to be the fifth member of your team?" Ozpin asked calmly as he stared at the team of girls.

Ruby looked to her teammates, receiving an indifferent 'Hmph' from Weiss, a nod from Blake, and two thumbs up from Yang. Make her mind up, Ruby faced the headmaster again with a smile, "Professor Ozpin, we will gladly take Silber as part of our team." She said, as she looked at Silber's surprised eyes.

"Very well," Ozpin began, making the astonished teen turn to the headmaster, "From now on, team RWBY shall be called team RWBYS." He said as everyone in attendance let out a roar of applause, while a shocked Silber walked over to his new team, where he was grabbed by the shoulders by Yang as the rest of the team welcomed him, leaving Ozpin to talk to himself, "Looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting school year." He mused, not able to find a better word for it.

* * *

The first thing Silber did when they got to the team's dorm, was to throw himself face down onto a bed. "Oh, bed..." he said, feeling like he could pass out then and there with how comfortable it was, "I love you even with all your weird lumps." He exhaled loudly in peace.

The rest of the team however, were not so eager to find a bed to sleep in, taking a look around the deserted room that they would be sharing for the next four years.

"Ugh, guys. There's only four beds." Ruby pointed out, leading the four girls to talk about sleeping arrangements as none of them, except Yang, wanted to sleep with a guy. They were discussing whether it should be Ruby and Yang, Weiss and Ruby, or Blake and Yang who would be sharing a bed, with no one wanting to give up the privilege of having their own bed, while Silber looked to the floor space beside the door with dread.

'Looks like I'm taking one for the team.' Silber thought, 'Could be worse, could be back in another one of those random alleys in Vale.'

The rest of the team were so busy arguing that they didn't notice Silber stand up, only did they stop when he walked towards them with a tired look on his face. Making his way around the girls, he collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion with his bag doubling as a pillow, leaving the four beds to his teammates.

Upon realizing what Silber did, Blake was the first to speak up, "Oh, Silber, you don't have to do that, I'm sure we can come up with something for everyone to have bed." She offered, getting a nod of agreement from Ruby.

"Yeah, no on should sleep on the floor, especially on my watch." Ruby said, though she was secretly concerned for her teammate. She saw as Silber lunged to the bed in glee, not caring if the bed had lumps on it or not, just glad to have one, meaning he didn't have one, or at least that's what her innocent mind told her.

"Guys," Silber said, rolling on to his side to face them, "You already accepted me into your team, took me in when you could have just left me out to hang, if I end up with a bed to myself while two of you have to share one, I feel like I would be taking advantage of you I did. You've done enough, and I'm thankful for that, I really am." He finished, rolling back over to face the wall, giving his back to the girls.

"But, Silber," Ruby started, getting closer to her male team member, "You don't have to-" She stopped suddenly, making the three girls behind her give a questioning look.

"Ruby?" Yang asked as her younger sibling turned around.

"He fell asleep." She answered simply, "He must have been very tired."

After giving the dark haired boy a look, the four girls made their preparations for bed, lying in one each, but the youngest one stared at the boy on the floor before shifting onto her shoulder, 'Silber,' She thought as she closed her silver eyes. 'Thank you.'

* * *

 **AN- I hope you guys liked the action. I got this uploaded at 12:46 AM so when I post this I'm crashing out. XD By the way, I will be picking up the new Spider-man game this friday so expect the release of chapter 4 to be a tad late. I hope you enjoyed the story so far, if so favorite, follow, review, and I'll see you guys soon. _Peace ~ Deva_**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN- Hey guys and welcome to the next chapter of RWBYS: AfterShock. This time I was able to put this out at a reasonable time compared to updating the story in the middle of night. I'm sorry this chapter took longer than usual to be added, but Marvel's Spider-Man kept me in the most enjoyable chokehold of my life. XD By the way, I am also looking for a beta reader. If you would like that to be you, please PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.**

 **Some quick shoutouts to PertemisLover123 for following the story, GrayZoldyck for favoriting the story, and finally, Zombiedudecolletti for both following and favoriting the story. Thank you guys for your support to the story, it is greatly appreaciated.**

 **RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and created by Monty Oum. I only own my OCs. Now, without further adieu, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **First Class Problems**

The white beams of the Moon shone through the window into the dusty room, as Roman Torchwick slammed his phone down angrily, letting out an exasperated sigh. He takes out a cigar, lighting it and takes a drag.

As he did, a man in a gray mask and black, a member of the White Fang, dragged in a trolley with a large crate loaded on it. Blowing out a puff of smoke, Roman places a collection of Lien on the table, which the masked figure picked up immediately.

"Open it." commanded Roman.

Taking a crowbar, the White Fang member forced the top of the crate open, revealing dozens of Dust crystals of various colors. Roman picks out a blue crystal, examining it closely before looking at the rest of the loot.

"We're gonna need more men.." Roman started, "After her temper tantrum for not finding that brat, along with that Shocker kid putting a lot of our men and you animals in the hospital." he finished looking down at his desk.

On the desk, a map is sprawled out showing Vale and it's various districts. There was a couple locations crossed out, all leading to one specific location circled in read. Beacon Academy

* * *

Silber shot up from the floor with a sharp breath and sweat rolling down his face. He activated one of his gauntlets pointing it around the dark room. The light snore of a girl broke him out of his trance-like state. He silently groaned, lying back down on his makeshift pillow with his hands covering his blue eyes.

Taking a deep breath, he uncovered them showing him the room he was. He couldn't help but remember the fire and the screams, wishing that the nightmares would end. He continued thinking to himself, painfully trying to forget the nightmares from happening, until the sound of a young girl quietly snoring reached his ears again.

Looking to his right, Silber saw four body masses resting peacefully in four beds. Except for one, Silber finally noticed a blanket draped over him when he looked down at his legs. Looking for whose it was, his eyes landed on Ruby, who was laying on her bed with no covers.

'She got up during the night and gave me her blanket.' He concluded quietly

Silently getting up, Silber made his way over to the young team leader and covered her back up with the blanket. Ruby let out a satisfied "Mmm" as she felt the warmth of the blanket wrap around her. A soft smile crept its way on his face before some light start to barely peek through the window.

Stepping over to the window, the only male member of the team looked out to see the sun majestically rising, without a care in the world, like it was being carried up. He soaked in the view before he heard the rustle of bed sheets.

Turning around, he found Blake raised up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with a yawn. "Morning." Silber greeted, making the dark haired teen turn to him.

"Good morning." Blake replied simply.

The two sat in awkward silence, as they were the only ones up that early, not really knowing what to say. "So..." Silber started, "I noticed the night before initiation that you were reading 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'. How are you liking it so far?" He continued hoping to start a conversation.

Blake was surprised that he knew the book, "I'm only at chapter, but enjoying it so far. I didn't take you for one to enjoy literature." She commented, making Silber let out an internal sigh of relief.

"I was kind of a book nerd when I was younger, my dad..." Silber paused for a brief moment before resuming, "He recommended it to me, said I could learn from it. I liked the theme of duality that it had, it taught me that someone may look good but be bad or vice versa."

"That's good a good outlook to have." Blake commented, looking out to see the sun rising higher. Another moment of awkward silence following soon after.

The dark haired girl turned to the her male teammate, with a steeled expression in her eyes, "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" he asked, confused at what she was asking.

"Why did you go after Roman Torchwick as the Shocker." Blake clarified, her expression unchanged.

Silber went rigid at hearing his name, "Would you believe that I went after him because he gave me that name?" He joked, trying to mask the anxiety building up.

Blake got a slightly annoyed look, replacing her neutral expression she had. Then something caught Silber's attention, 'Did her bow… twitch?' She wasn't going to let him walk without some answer.

He blinked, the memories still fresh in his mind, "I really don't want to talk about it." But the signs were there for Blake to read. Whatever happened was really bad.

"Nice talk, Blake." Silber called back to her as he

He made his way to the little wardrobe that held what appeared to be their school uniforms. Silber saw four pairs with the same scheme, with brown jackets that had bronze trimmings and white undershirts. He saw that those were for the girls though when he saw the red plaid skirts. He also saw another, which looked like a black suit with gold trimmings and buttons. This was accompanied by a blue, really low V-neck blue vest, with a white undershirt and a red tie.

Taking the uniform by the clothes hanger, he went to the bathroom get ready for class. He went to the sink, after hanging the uniform on the back of the bathroom door, and splashed some water on to his face to wake him up, before going about his hygiene routine.

After putting on the uniform, though the tie gave him a challenge, he couldn't help but like how it fit. Not too tight but not too loose. 'Look liking slick, Lunom.' He complimented himself in the mirror.

Meanwhile morning peacefully came for Weiss Schnee. The blue sky clearly visible from the window to her as she was waking up from the sound of birds happily chirping, letting out a low yawn.

That soon ended though, as she spotted her partner's face extremely close to hers with a whistle in her hand. Realizing too late what was planned for her, Weiss was caught by surprise from the sudden blow of the whistle, making her tumble out of bed.

Seeing her partner out of bed, Ruby jumped up cheerfully, "Goood morning, team RWBYS!"

Meanwhile, Weiss stayed on the floor, a little less than thrilled with her partner. "What in the world is wrong with you?

What's going on now?" Silber asked, closing the door to the bathroom, "Morning, Ruby, Yang, Weiss." He greeted getting the appropriate. Two cheerful mornings from the sisters and a miffed response from the Schnee.

The young leader continued, "Now that you're awake we can begin our first order of business." Ruby said trying to sound as professional as possible.

Finally getting up from the floor, Weiss was left more confused than she already was. "Excuse me?" She asked spotting Yang with a bunch of stuff in her arms and Blake with a suitcase.

"Decorating!" Yang shouted excitedly.

"What?" Weiss asked again, not used to someone telling her she had to decorate.

Blake, however, kept her cool, "We still have to unpack." She said, raising her suitcase. That was until the suitcase popped open, spilling the contents across the floor. "Aand clean."

This clearly left the heiress unamused, only to be caught off guard as Ruby blew the whistle close to her again. If she wasn't fully awake before, she was now.

"Alright!" Ruby shouted with excitement, "Weiss, Blake, Yang, Silber, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission." Ruby continued not even trying to hide her excitement. "Banzai!" She shouted.

Which was received as Blake and Yang stood beside her, all three of them with their arms in the air, "Banzai!" They screamed collectively, tilting their bodies to the right a little. Silber stood there with a smile on his face as he watched his teammates' antics.

Weiss let out a small sigh, before realizing that all four of her teammates had their uniforms on. "Wait, Why isn't Silber unpacking?" Weiss pointed out, making all eyes turn to him.

"Well," Silber started, picking up the bag that he used for a pillow, "This has all the stuff I brought." The girls had varying degrees of questioning degrees.

"That little bag can't have all the stuff you'd think to bring." Yang stated, making Silber internally panicking while trying to find a good enough excuse.

"I didn't have a lot of stuff before coming to Beacon." He said, telling half of the truth.

Ruby gave a look of sadness at her friend's misfortune as her thoughts leaned more and more to the working theory that he was poor. Blake on the other hand, the gears in head were grinding at the new information she was learned from the young teen. She knew he had something against Roman Torchwick to go after him and the White Fang, which surprised her.

She looked over to Yang and saw that she too was processing the information deeply too. "Hey where did all the smiles and "banzai" go? Come on it's the first day of class at Beacon." He exclaimed happily, trying to brighten the mood while diverting the attention away from him.

"Yeah, guys. This room isn't going to decorate itself." Yang shouted, getting cheers from Ruby while Blake smirked, though knew that he was trying to divert the attention away from himself. "Let's get to it, we don't want to be late to class."

The girls got to it quickly enough, making the arrangements for the room to look less bare. Yang hung up a poster in the form of the 'Achieve Men' while Weiss hung up her painting on the wall. Meanwhile, Blake and Silber started working on the former's assortment of book, carefully arranging them on the shelf, while leaving some of the more private ones in her bag, though Silber caught a glimpse of her stuffing 'Ninjas of Love' back into her bag and shot her a knowing smirk, while all she could do was blush.

Ruby got her scythe out and started hanging the curtains up in place, taking advantage of the height of her weapon. Quickly finishing the task, Ruby turned around in pleasure, not realizing she managed to cut the curtain with her weapon

The five finished quickly, even managing to mend the curtain with a quick fix. The only problem was that the room was too small for all of their belongings, as they realized by seeing the four beds all piled up in the center.

"This isn't gonna work." Said Weiss, vocalizing what all five of them were thinking.

"It is a bit cramped." Blake calmly said, as she was trying to think of a solution.

"A bit or a lot." Silber stated more than asked, while also trying to work out a solution.

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff." Yang suggested, though was less than thrilled to go through with it.

"Or we could ditch the beds." Ruby started, thinking out loud before an idea simultaneously popped into her and Silber's minds, both letting out a gasp. "And replace them with bunk beds!" Shouted the two youngest members of the team at the same time with their arms raised.

They both turn to each other with a slight blush, "Jinx, you owe me a soda." Silber said quickly, making Ruby laugh.

"Um, that sounds incredibly dangerous." Weiss pointed out, not really enjoying the idea of death by a falling bed.

"And super awesome!" Yang said in excitement, really enjoying any idea that doesn't involve throwing her stuff away.

"It does seem efficient." Blake admitted.

"Well," Weiss started, not backing down even if it meant four against one, "We should put it to a vote."

"Ha, I think we just did." Ruby said triumphantly.

And it was very clear who won, even if someone agreed with her it wouldn't have changed the outcome. Finally admitting defeat, Weiss joined the rest of the team. "So, just how are we going to accomplish this." Weiss asked begrudgingly.

"Well," Silber began, looking around the room, "looking at the available materials we have, I think we can do it. All we need to start is some rope."

And they began arranging the beds to save as much room as possible, and after awhile their work was completed. Turning back to their work, with Weiss now in her uniform, the team was able to appreciate the two bunk beds, one being held up by ropes, with the top bed covered by a hanging blanket, while the other one was being held up by some of Blake's books. "Objective, complete!" Ruby exclaimed happily.

That was until a sudden realization hit her, "Wait!" she shouted, gaining the attention of the other four members of the team, "What about Silber, he still needs a bed." Ruby pointed out while looking at the spot he slept last night.

"Look, guys, I thought we already went through this." Silber said, not wanting the girls to go out of their way. "I'm okay with sleeping on the floor."

"That doesn't mean we have to be okay with it." Yang stated, getting nods from Ruby and Blake in agreement.

Before Silber could respond, Weiss spoke out, "Could we just get on before the day gets any crazier."

Ruby turned to the only male in the room, who gave her assuring look to let her know it was alright. "Right, our order of business is..." She started, pulling a black covered book from the shelf and sat on her bed, "Classes." She finished with a bummed out look.

"Now, we have a few classes together today." She started reading out of the notebook. "At nine we got to be-" She was saying before Weiss interrupted her.

"What? Did you say nine o'clock?!" She asked alarmed, leaving Ruby confused. "It's 8:55, you dunce!" She shouted before sprinting out the door leaving the rest of her team to stare at her retreating form form the door frame, while also leaving a very confused to stare at her as well.

"Uhh," Stuttered Ruby, trying to gain some control of the situation, "To class!" She shouted, sprinting out of the room with Yang, Blake, and Silber in tow.

Jaune was left the most confused of all, "Class?" He asked himself as Nora put more weight down on him. Not able to support that much weight, Jaune fell out into the hallway, leading the rest of his team to come tumbling down with him, since they were stacked on top of one another.

Being the first one up, Jaune darted after the other team, "We're going to be late!" He cried as his team chased after him, leaving a trail of dust behind them.

In the courtyard, Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch were having a pleasant conversation before a rather loud commotion passed by them. Turning around, They saw teams RWBYS and JNPR bolting across the school. The only response they could give was Glynda looking down at her watch while Ozpin took a casual sip of his coffee.

* * *

"Monsters! Demons..." Said a very deep voice, the voice of Peter Port, professor of Grimm. "Prowlers of the night. Yes, the Creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey." Giving a victorious chuckle, which no student returned, but it helped wake Ruby up.

'Really, Rubes? We haven't even been in ten minutes in class and you're already sleeping?' He thought quietly.

Trying to get out of the awkward silence, Professor Port continued, "And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy." He started to pace, passing team RWBYS as he did, "Now as I was saying, Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than tear you to pieces."

Walking back, he continued his lecture, "And that's where we come in." He said before coming to a stop and looking at the class, "Huntsman! Huntresses..." Saying the latter a little seductively with a click of the tongue as he looked at Yang, making her feel extremely awkward.

Taking advantage of his spot between her and Weiss, Silber leaned over to her. "I think the teacher likes you." He joked, making her feel even more embarrassed as her cheeks reddened a little.

"Well, what do you know, there is a situation that can embarrass you." He teased as sat back straight. "I'll make sure to remember this for a while."

He heard a soft giggle from Ruby, but a little groan from Weiss made it's way to his ears, "Be quiet! Some of us are trying to learn!" She whispered and screamed at the same time. Is that even possible?

"Yes ma'am!" Silber responded with a mock salute, "I could also make a killer hot coco for you, would you like that also, Snow?"

Deciding it better to ignore the jokester, Weiss turned her attention back to the professor. "Giving me the cold shoulder? Aw, that's no fun. He said, hearing Ruby start giggling and Yang snicker at the pun. Looking back, he also saw a smirk plastered on Blake's lips.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves." Port said as he raised his hand before swiftly lowering it again. "From what you ask? Why the very world!" He exclaimed excitedly, hoping for any of the students to feel the same.

Fortunately one student did, yelling out an "Ayyyy-yep!", unfortunately, he was the only one as many of the students just stared at him, an uncomfortable silence once again falling over the room. 'People call me weird.' Silber thought randomly.

"That is what you are training to become." Port started again, "But first, a story. A tale of a young, handsome man. Me."

'A tad bit of a narcissist aren't you, professor?' Silber thought as the story began. Though, he was losing concentration fast after as all the loss of sleep came back to haunt him as his eyes began to droop.

'Maybe Ruby had the right idea to begin with.' He contemplated groggily.

He was able to hear a few key things, like Ruby making a fart sound, followed by her and Yang trying to keep the laughs in their throats constrained, Professor Port clearing his throat in an attempt to keep everyone's attention on him, but even though he didn't know it, Silber's eyes were shut. He also heard Port start the story again, but could no longer pay attention since all the sounds were muffled to his ears.

'Sleep sounds good right about now.' Silber thought, not paying attention at all the things Ruby was doing, from doodling to picking her nose. Or the fact that Weiss was shaking with anger right next to him.

With a slap to the back of the head from Weiss, Silber jolted up out of his seat with a hand raised. Last thing he remembered was Port talking about his story and now here he was standing up with all eyes in the room on him. Great first day so far.

"Well then!" The professor shouted, gaining the waking teen's attention, "Do you really believe in that, Mr. Lunom?"

The question left Silber staring straight at the professor with a confused set of wide eyes. Then he looked to his raised right hand and wondered just how he finds himself in these situations. Looking at his team, he saw the scowl that Weiss was giving him as well as a few thumbs up from the rest of them, mostly from Yang, "Uh..." He started, still confused on just what the question was in the first place, "Yes."

"Well, let's find out, shall we?" That was when a cage was dragged out, but whatever was inside was clearly not pleased to be in it, indicated by the low growls it let out and the thrashing around it did. "Step forward and meet your opponent." He said, looking at the red eyes of what ever creature it was in the cage.

"Uh, I was kinda hoping for a good game of chess." Silber said, returning from changing into his Huntsman attire, though was slightly irritated by the fact that he lost his shades during initiation.

For the first time since class began, Peter Port chose to be silent, letting Silber be the center of attention. Turning back to face the class, he saw every student staring at him, making the situation even more uncomfortable for him. Setting his eyes on his team, he saw that Blake somehow pulled a red flag with the team's name on it in white letters from out of nowhere.

As the thing in the cage started to growl and thrash again, Yang decided to show her support, "Goooo, Silber!"

"Fight well!" Blake called, waving the banner around a little.

"Yeah, represent team RWBYS!" Ruby shouted last, trying to motivate her team member since she saw how nervous he was.

"Ruby, he's trying to focus!" Weiss scolded her team leader.

The fact that she said nothing to the rest of the team but scolded Ruby didn't sit well with him, making Silber frown a little.

"Oh. Ruby said, accepting Weiss's explanation. "Sorry!" She shouted to Silber again, making Weiss facepalm and Silber smile.

'Come on, Weiss, give her a break.' He thought to himself as his confidence grew from the support.

His thoughts were interrupt as Professor Port raised his axe that ended in a blunderbuss. "Alright. Let the match begin." He announced as he brought down the axe with effortless swing, striking the lock that kept the now revealed Boarbatusk inside.

The dark abomination wasted no time and charged at Silber, making roll out of the way last second. "Oh, thank god, it's only a Grimm!" Silber shouted, as everyone stared at him like he was crazy.

Port chortled a little bit, "You weren't expecting that were you?"

"To be honest, I thought it was a clone of Yang with her hair cut off. Now that's scary" Silber said, making Yang and Ruby snicker, while Weiss on the other hand, was livid. 'How could someone face a Creature of Grimm and not be serious about it! At least Ruby was a little more mature about it!'

Meanwhile the Boarbatusk took the opportunity to charge the seemingly distracted Huntsman-in-training, who dodged with a quick back handspring. Seeing the Grimm slow down so it didn't ram into the wall, Silber came up with an idea, 'Ok, I'm gonna have to dial it back a bit, can't have Oz pissed at me for tearing up one of his classrooms. So how I'm gonna have to do this in the least collateral way possible. It's main way of attacking is it's tusk, so lets get rid of those first.'

With his plan set, Silber charged the Boarbatusk head on as it turned back for another charge, the both of them not backing down. The two meet with a clash as Silber is pushed back a little before planting his feet to keep the creature from plowing through him. The two combatants are locked in struggle with Silber's hands giving off a faint red glow.

The Boarbatusk lets out a howl as it tusks begin to crack, before snapping off. The Creature of Grimm backs off trying to reevaluate its opponent as Silber dropped the broken tusks to the ground, already starting to dissolve as they it the ground.

The quadrupedal Grimm charges yet again but this time curls in to a speeding ball. Silber's gauntlet started to emit it's usual whitish energy as the Grimm neared him. In a split-second hit, the teen stopped the monstrosity in its tracks, surprising some of the students.

The Boarbatusk uncurled as it's steps stuttered, clearly disoriented from the blow. Not letting up, Silber delivers another punch to side of the Grimm's head knocking it over and with a third hit to it's unarmored stomach, the match was over as the Grimm laid unmoving as pieces of it started to disintegrate.

"And that little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home." Silber joked as he turned back to Professor Port clapping.

"Bravo, bra-vo!" Port praised, "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a real Huntsman in training. I'm afraid that's all the time we have for class today. Be sure to cover the assigned reading and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Silber left out to change back into his uniform, when he got back he saw Ruby dashing out after Weiss as Yang and Blake stayed behind. Saying his goodbye to the teacher, Silber sprinted out to catch up to his teammates, the fact that he didn't know what class he had next made it a necessity.

He was able to see that, around the corner, Ruby just caught up with Weiss. Decide it to be better if he knew just what the snow heiress against the team leader, Silber stayed behind, snooping in on the conversation.

"Weiss!" Ruby called out, gaining the Schnee's attention.

"What?" Replied Weiss with disdain in her voice.

"What's wrong with you?" Ruby asked, trying to ignore the rude tone in her voice, "Why are you being-"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" Weiss questioned, making the young leader give her a confused look, "You're supposed to be a leader and all you've been so far is a nuisance."

Scoffing a little, Ruby tried to get an explanation, "What did I do?"

"That's just it!" Weiss continued, as if Ruby just answered her question, "You've done nothing to earn your position. Back in the forest you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so."

"Weiss, where is this coming from?" Ruby asked, a little hurt after the new friend she thought she found in Weiss back in the forest was saying that nothing has changed. "What happened to all the talk about working together? I thought you believed in acting as a team."

"Not a team lead by you." Weiss emphasized, making Silber wince a little at her remark, "I've studied, and trained, and quite frankly, I deserve better." She stated as she turned on her heel, unable to see Ruby reaching out to her in order for her not to leave, "Ozpin made a mistake." She finished before marching off.

"That was rude." Silber said as he caught a glimpse of Ruby's dejected face, and something in him just couldn't stand to see her like that. "I guess you can say she was cold as ice." He joked, trying to get even the smallest smile from her. But it didn't really work, Ruby still looked sad and was struggling to keep tears from falling as she looked at him with her hands clasped together in front of her.

"Silber, is Weiss right? Did Ozpin make a mistake?" Asked Ruby with her voice quivering as her watery silver eyes met his blue ones, fearing who she thought was her first friend in Beacon agreed with Weiss.

Silber sat silent for a second that to Ruby felt like hours, before he spoke, "Ruby, it hasn't even been a full day since the initiation. I don't think it's right to judge you with only having a couple hours of being named team leader."

They both sat in silence before he talked again, "Ruby, where are we?"

Ruby gave him a confused looked with her still teary eyes before answering, "Beacon Academy."

"And what is Beacon Academy?"

"A school for Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"And what do you do at a school?"

"You learn."

"Bingo." Silber said, with a small smile as Ruby still gave him a confused look, "You go to school to learn. Let me tell you something, Ruby, no one is a natural born leader. They learn to be one."

Realization started to dawn on Ruby's face as he continued, "So do I think Ozpin made a mistake? No, I don't and I think Ozpin doesn't either. He had five options for team leader to choose from, Yang, me, Blake, Weiss, and you, with only the initiation to go off of to make it fair. To me this is what he saw. Yang is a great fighter but is a little hotheaded. A leader needs to be able to keep a cool head, or you wouldn't be able to lead people effectively. Take Blake for example, she's really level headed, but doesn't talk much, she doesn't inspire leadership to me and despite trying to continue conversations, she doesn't start them. Weiss, well you know, she's a little entitled and is gonna bump heads with me and Yang, and a leader should be on good terms with the rest of the team, something she doesn't know about. Then there's little ole' me, Ruby, I can tell you a couple reasons why I shouldn't be the leader of the team or ever be leader of a team in the first place."

Ruby was about to protest, saying that he saved her from the Death Stalker and that, if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't be here to begin with, but Silber stopped her before she could start.

"You charged the Death Stalker head on, a risky move and you ended up being swatted like a fly. Some might say it was really childish what you did, but to me, that was really brave." Finished Silber.

"But, Silber, I'm not as strong as you or Yang, or as smart as Blake or Weiss or you, why would Ozpin choose me-" Was all Ruby said before Silber cut her off by gently putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Some times the best person to lead isn't the strongest or smartest. Sometimes they just have their hearts in the right place and do the right thing." Saying that Silber couldn't help but remember Geist. "I know for a fact your heart is in the right place, but it's up to you to take command of the team and prove that Ozpin made the right decision in choosing you. I know you're nervous about all this I would be too, but you aren't in this alone, you got Yang and Blake to help if you need it, and I'll be there too." Silber finished finally.

When he finished, he could see the tears dripping down from her chin. Silber thought he said something wrong and wanted to get out of there, get as much distance as possible before Ruby came after him with Yang to beat him senselessly for saying what he said. He was about to give an excuse to make a break for it before he saw that beneath the teary eyes, there was genuine smile spread across her pale face.

The smile was enough to make even him smile. "So it's up to you to prove to everyone that Ozpin was right and be the best team leader you can be." Ruby's smile turned into a smirk as she wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

"Now," He started, patting her shoulder, "You should probably go to the rest of the team while I chat with Weiss."

Nodding a little bit, Ruby did just that, a smile stretched across her face as she walked with a little pep in her step. Silber sighed a little as he went over to the balcony that Weiss was at, already regretting what he was about to do.

"You know that was a tad unnecessary." He started, making her turn around, "It's the first day and you already passing judgment that Ruby isn't supposed to be the leader."

"Oh, like you're any better." Weiss claimed as she turned around again. "You're even more immature than her."

"So, why were you so mean to her?" Silber asked as he made to Weiss's right, leaning on the railing as he took in the view.

Weiss looked at her only male teammate, unsure if he was going to make a joke about this or not. "I feel like I deserved to be team leader!"

"So what?" Silber shot back quickly, catching her a little off guard. "Does that give you the right to be acting like you are now? It gives you the right to shout at Ruby like you did?"

Weiss thought for a second, remembering how Silber acted throughout his time around her. She saw that this wasn't the same Silber as when they first met, or at Initiation, or even in Port's class. This was the Silber that she saw and was kind of scared of, on their first night at Beacon, the serious Silber. "People should know when they have made a mistake!" Weiss countered.

Silber gave a slight smirk at her comment. "I completely agree with you on that." He said, making her smirk in victory. "But I think that you're the one making the mistake here."

This threw her off again, "W-what?" How dare you?" She stuttered.

"I just feel that you're jumping to conclusions." He continued, ignoring the sudden outburst. "Look, I'm not saying you have to like everyone you meet. Or that you can't get upset when they screw up. Just that it might be worth a shot to try and get to know someone before you judge them. You didn't even give Ruby a chance to prove herself as a leader. Look, just think on it, okay?" He finished as he started to leave, making Weiss look at the floor where he was standing as the Sun started to set over the horizon.

"Oh and Weiss," Silber called back as he was about to head back inside, making the Schnee look at him, "Do we have any other classes? I kind of forgot to check the schedule this morning."

Normally Weiss would have facepalmed, but instead to bear a small smile, shaking her head no. "Good, I guess I'll see back at the dorm then. Tell the others not to wait up for me, I'm going to Ozpin to see about getting a bed for me in the dorm." He said before turning back, leaving Weiss behind to look at the scenery in peace.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the dorms, Ruby, Yang, and Blake were brainstorming on a way for Silber to have a bed to sleep on that didn't involve sharing with someone. Looking around the room, Ruby noticed the white blanket that hung over her bed. The sparks in her eyes were a dead giveaway of the plan she cooked up. Taking some of the extra blankets they found in the bathroom, she stated tying two ends to the bedpost at the foot of her bed.

Seeing Ruby start doing that helped Blake catch on to the plan. Getting the other ends from the floor, Blake made an expert knot to the post at the head of Yang's bed. Upon letting go, the three team members saw the odd looking white hammock stay together. Ruby decided to be the one to test it out, landing back first on the hammock. Offering some resistance, the makeshift hammock began to swing back and forth, making Ruby giggle in delight, "Hey, you guys, think Silber would like to trade beds with me?"

* * *

'Well, that was a complete and utter bust.' Silber thought as he made his way back to the dorm for the night as the sky shined a orangish red color. 'The next shipment for beds don't come in until next week. I guess I'll just sleep on the floor again.'

He opened the door to see the makeshift bunk beds he made along with the team this morning. But what caught his attention was the white sheet hanging between Ruby and Yang's beds.

"There he is!" Yang shouted as she hopped down from her bed, already in her pajamas, "The guy that played chicken with a Boarbatusk and win." She said with a smirk.

"Congratulations." Was all Blake said before delving back to her book.

"Yeah, were awesome back there!" Ruby shouted from the top of her bed. "The Grimm was like 'woosh', but you were like 'boom'. And stopped it like that. I wish I could have filmed it!"

Silber took a mock bow, smirking a little, "Thank you, thank you, but quick question. What's that hanging between the top of the bunks?" He asked, pointing at the white sheets.

"Oh, that's the best part!" Yang shouted. She made her way over to Silber and picked him up. Despite the complaints and mild thrashing he did, Yang tossed him onto the hammock, making it swing back and forth rapidly.

"We made you a hammock! Hope you like it!" Yang said with a wide smile.

Silber was about to complain, but realized that, despite how it looked, the hammock was sturdy. Sinking into the hammock, Silber found it was leagues better than the floor he slept on last night with his bag as the pillow. "Thank you, but you didn't have to do it, I was fine on the floor-"

"You're welcome." Blake interrupted, shutting Silber up.

Silber finally stepped down from the hammock and went to the bathroom to change into his night clothes. He exited the bathroom to see Ruby up in her bed with papers scattered all over it.

"You know, we have that desk for that, right?" He pointed out quietly, making his way over to her.

"I find it more comfortable to do it here." She said without looking away from her book.

"I thought I was the only to do that." Silber muttered to himself as he started to go for the hammock.

"Oh, and Silber." Ruby said, getting his attention. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Ruby."

* * *

Night came quickly to Beacon, almost every one of the students were asleep in the warm grasp of their bed.

Silber wasn't one of those students. Though he was in his hammock, he was quietly trying to delay his slumber, using the snores Yang was making to keep himself awake as he pondered to himself silently while staring at the ceiling.

That was until a creaking sound tore him from his thoughts as Weiss tried to quietly open the door.

Making her way underneath the hammock, Weiss saw Ruby, passed out from trying to pull an all-nighter to study. She quietly woke her leader up, receiving a few groans from her.

The surprise of seeing her partner fully woke her up. "Weiss! I-I was studying and then fell asleep, I'm sorry." She started, thinking the light woke her up.

Covering the younger girl's mouth to keep her quiet, Weiss noticed the mug by her pillow, "How do you take your coffee?"

"Uh, I-I don't-" Ruby stuttered, but was quickly interrupted by Weiss.

"Answer the question!"

"Uhh, cream and five sugars!" Ruby practically shouted, despite the two members asleep and one who she thought was asleep.

Sighing a little about the childish coffee, Weiss continued. "Don't move." Before going down and getting a new mug.

Quickly making the coffee, she hand it to Ruby, "Here."

Unsure of the sudden change of heart her partner was showing, Ruby took the mug. "Um, thanks Weiss."

"Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader." Weiss said, making Ruby smile at her. "Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have." She finished with a smile of her own. "Good luck studying." She said as she went down, making Silber smile at them for making amends. That was when Weiss stepped back up again, "That's wrong by the way." She said before going down and headed to the bathroom to change clothes, making Silber raise an eyebrow.

'Well, at least she helped her, that's a start, I guess.' He thought.

"Hey, Ruby?" Weiss called quietly, before stepping into the bathroom.

"Uh-uh?" Was the only answer the team leader gave.

"I always wanted bunk beds as a kid." Weiss admitted as she closed the door, making Ruby smile widely.

Looking down, Ruby saw Silber looking at her with a smile, his blue eyes shining thanks to the light of Ruby's lamp, and couldn't help but smile even more as she realized that whatever he said to Weiss helped change her mind.

"Thank you, Silber." She whispered.

"No prob, Rubes." He whispered back as she went back to studying, as he returned to his thoughts before slumber captured him in it's tempting grasp.

* * *

 **AN- We got another glimpse at Silber's semblance. Feel free to tell me your theories on what it is. I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, if so favorite, follow, review, and I'll see you guys soon with Chapter 5. _PEACE ~ Deva_**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN- Hey guys and welcome to another installment of RWBYS: AfterShock! I'm back to uploaded to near midnight, yet again. XD I'm sorry this came later than originally planned, I kinda procrastinated this while searching for some music I could write to, because for some reason when I'm writing I have to have some form of music playing. I'm still looking for a beta-reader, PM me if you're interested.**

 **Another round of quick shoutouts to KawiiKing, MrDrago104, and Peanut Butter Bacon for following and favoriting the story and NiceGuy2Point0 for favoriting the story, thank you guys so much for the continued support of the story, it's greatly appreciated.**

 **RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and created by Monty Oum. I only own OCs. Now without further ado, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **Silent Echoes**

"Why won't you tell me who they are?"

"You already know the answer to that."

"Just because you say the time isn't right doesn't make it so. Now, tell me."

"Stop acting like a brat, Silber."

"Then stop acting like you're my dad and tell me who they really are!"

"Remnant to Silber." Yang's voice snapped her sole male teammate out of his thoughts. Blinking his eyes, Silber let out a short "Huh?" as he turned to the blonde brawler, who was giving him a weird look. Silber took a moment to remember that they were in the auditorium.

"You alright? You've been staring at the wall since class started." Yang asked with a small look of worry.

"Y-yeah, I'm totally fine." Silber lied, trying to put her worries to rest. Noticing the clash of metal as a spar started between Jaune and Cardin, used it to his advantage, "Check it out, Jaune and Cardin are going at it."

Yang shot him another weird glance before turning her gaze back to the spar.

Cardin stood across from Jaune with his mace perched his shoulder, a cocky smirk adorning his face. Jaune on the other hand, was using his sword to keep on his feet, panting heavily from the fight so far.

Cardin let out a mocking laugh at the blonde swordsman as he struggled to stay up. Gathering all his strength, Jaune charged forward and swung his blade at Cardin, only for him to jump out of the way. Jaune looked back surprised, that he missed. Cardin with a mighty swing of his mace sent Jaune's shield flying out of his hand.

Jaune, still not backing down, lunged with another swipe, but is blocked by the hilt of the taller boy's mace. With their weapons locked, Cardin forces himself up, towering over the struggling knight.

"This is the part where you lose." Cardin taunted.

With a grunt, Jaune shot back, "Over my dead- Oomph!"

Jaune's reply was cut short by a swift knee to the gut, making him crumple to the floor in pain, dropping his sword in the process. Cardin raised his mace high, almost slamming it down on the defenseless blonde, that is until the buzzer sounded off.

"Cardin, that's enough." Glynda Goodwitch announced, making him put his mace down and step away as she walked onto the stage, tapping away at her tablet, "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match."

Jaune made no effort to pick himself up off the floor, wallowing in his defeat, while Pyrrha gave her team leader a sad look. Glynda turned to the downed leader of team JNPR as he pulled out his scroll showing his low, blinking stats along with those of his team. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better move to a more..." Professor Goodwitch paused to find the right word, "Defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we."

With a low scoff, Cardin muttered, "Speak for yourself..."

Glynda shifted her attention to the mix of students that were seated or standing. "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing Vale!"

Not a second after she finished, the bell rang and students started filing out while the Pyrrha continued to frown sadly. Jaune, still sitting on the floor, hung his head in shame. Silber shot him a quick look before following his team out the doors.

* * *

"So there we were in the middle of the night..." Nora started her tale as everyone ate their assorted lunches.

"It was day." Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursai..." The energetic hammer girl continued telling her story to Blake, who payed her now mind as she was lost in her book, and Yang, who had her hands cupped to her face as she hung on her every word.

"They were Beowolves." Said Ren, after taking a sip of coffee.

"Dozens of them!" Nora screamed, jumping on top of the lunch table, catching the attention of passersby as the orange haired girl bounced on the table. Weiss ignored her and kept filing her nails, while Ruby and Pyrrha listened politely. Jaune picked at his food and Silber sat silently, taking small bites of his food, listening to story with a small smile on his face.

"Two of 'em" Another correction courtesy of Ren.

"But they were no match… And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora concluded excitedly, while Ruby and Pyrrha looked at Jaune with concern.

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now." Ren sighed as he raised his cup to take another sip of coffee.

Meanwhile, Silber couldn't help but think back to the echoes in his head. The words haunting him, no matter how much he tried to push them back and lock them away. They always clawed their way back out from whatever mental prison he put them in. He remember vividly were they came from and he hated to admit it but he wanted them to keep coming back because of what they were.

The last words him and Geist shared before the fire, after an argument they had. One of the many arguments about his parents. Silber didn't have to be told that him and Geist weren't related, he figured it out at an early age when his hair and eye color didn't match with Geist's. Geist didn't deny it, but when he asked what his parents' names were or if Silber was even his birth name, Geist wouldn't budge knowing that he was too smart.

Silber hated himself that those were the last words he shared with the man that did so much for him. He took him for granted, but damn it! Why? He promised him that he'd never leave him, that he'd never be alone. But here he was alone feeling that the whole world was going mad.

Unknowingly, Silber clenched his hands so hard that his knuckles turned white as he stared off in a random direction, though it didn't go unnoticed. Ruby glanced down the table, as Pyrrha and Jaune talked about being bullied by Cardin, noticing him looking distant.

"Silber?" Ruby called out, interrupting Pyrrha and Jaune's banter, "Are you okay?"

Dragged out of his thought by his team leader, Silber turned back to them, "Uhh? Y-yeah, just thinking about a maintenance check-list on my gauntlets that I have to go over." He stammered out, though

"Dude, that's the second time today that you spaced out." Yang insisted, not believing that he was telling the truth. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Silber quickly said, clearly wanting them to drop the subject.

Going back to his meal, Silber picked up the sound of an accented voice mumbling for someone to stop. Looking behind him, he was able to see a group of guys mocking a Faunus for her brown rabbit ears. Also seeing that she was taking it, only with some small protests from as she stared down at her food. 'Cardin.' he mentally growled.

Ruby noticed that Silber was looking behind himself, looking in the same direction she noticed the group lead by Cardin Winchester mocking a bunny. Looking at Silber again, she saw the angry and sad face he was making. Almost like he knew just what the girl was thinking.

Getting up without a word, Silber made his way over to the group as Cardin started yanking the girl's bunny ears, despite her shouts of protest. He saw the surprised looks of his team and team JNPR, despite Nora looking ready to stand up with him. Despite the cries calling him back, Silber stayed on his path.

Getting a laugh out of the Faunus, Cardin talked to his teammates, ignoring the poor girl's protests all together, "I told you it was real

"What a freak!" Guffawed one of his teammates.

The laughing stopped when they heard a loud gasp behind them. "You gonna let that slide, Cardin? He called you a freak!" Silber continued as he gently grabbed the girl's hand, pulling her away from Cardin's lose grip as his attention shifted to Silber. "I mean everyone knew, but now that someone said it really means something."

Looking at the black and silver haired teen, Cardin stood up, easily towering over Silber as he saw him putting himself between the Faunus and Cardin. "And who might you be little guy?" He said getting in Silber's face.

"Ugh, Dude, two words: tooth paste. If you needed it, you only had to ask." Silber said as he backed away from the taller teen, waving his hand in front of his nose. Seeing Cardin's red face, he continued, "But even then it probably wouldn't help. Add breath mints, some floss, and lots of mouthwash to the list while you're at it."

"What did you just say?!" Cardin shouted, drawing peoples attention to them.

"Deaf and ugly? Wow, man you drew the short stick in life, didn't you?" Silber questioned jokingly,

"Just who do think you are!" Cardin shouted again as more people looked at the commotion.

"Oh, I go by a lot of names. Namely freak, loser, small-fry, and some others that weren't very nice." Silber said, counting the words on his fingers. "But let's not talk about what Weiss thinks of me inside her head, what about you big guy? Anything I can call you by instead of 'All brawn, no brain'?"

Upon hearing a few snickers coming from the onlookers, Cardin talked, "You know, you're going to be in a world of hurt."

'I already am.' Silber thought silently, not budging as Cardin's teammates gathered behind their leader, trying to look as menacing as possible.

"Ooh! Bodyguards." Silber kept on, not taking his eyes off Cardin. "And they say that only girls can be damsels in distress."

"But seriously, it takes four guys to threaten a girl?" Silber asked jokingly, "And a 15 year old. I gotta ask, how many of you does it take to screw in a light bulb?"

Silber could see the anger radiating from the bullies. Hell, he could practically hear it before even one of them said a word. "Keep it up, wise guy, and you're gonna be in a world of pain." Cardin threatened, only getting a smirk from Silber in response.

"Is it world of hurt or world of pain? You got to make a decision, Cardi." Silber teased, only angering the older teen more.

"I'm going to squash you like a bug." Cardin said, taking a step closer to Silber, his hand hovering over his mace.

Silber had to sigh loudly at his comeback. "Seriously? 'Squash you like a bug', so original. Don't know any better comebacks?"

"That's it!" Cardin pulled out his mace, intent on smashing the smaller boy into the ground, and silently hoping that the display of his weapon would scare the scrawny teen. "You bit off more than you could chew when you decided to mess with me!"

But Silber was not even impressed with the small display. He looked away for a second and saw an interesting onlooker by the entrance to the lunch room. Looking back to Cardin and his goons with a smirk. "Gentlemen, if you would mind asserting your observation over to the door."

Getting some confused and angry stares from the team, Silber clarified. "Look at the door." The older teens followed the direction of his pointed finger. Finally resting their eyes on the door, they widened in surprise as Glynda Goodwitch was standing there, tablet in hand as she watch the confrontation between the five.

"Now with that knowledge in mind, do really want to keep this up and risk getting on Goodwitch's bad side." Silber questioned, his smirk widening as the three lackeys looked to their leader. Their surprised expressions said it all.

With a low grow, Cardin gave his answer, "This isn't over." Walking away, Cardin and his posse made their way to another table. Seeing that, Silber decided to check on the Faunus girl before Cardin decided to tempt him into a fight by picking on the poor girl again. It was people like Cardin that made school hell for him.

Seeing her brown rabbit ears easily, Silber found her close to his own team. "Hey." Silber started, getting her attention.

That was until she started blushing hard and look down to her feet, refusing to look Silber in the eyes. "Hello." She replied meekly.

"Are you hurt?" Silber began looking her over for any indication that she was. He received a shake of her head for an answer.

"My name is Silber, what's yours?" He asked, feeling awkward at the shy girl's silence.

"V-Velvet." The faunus forced out. "Velvet Scarlatina."

"Well, Velvet, if anyone messes with you, you can always come to me." Silber said as Velvet faced him for the first time with a smile and short nod.

"Velvet? Is that you?" Came another voice, the source being a brown haired girl with aviators and a beret of the same color as her hair. "Come on! We're gonna be late!"

"O-I-um," Velvet stuttered, clearly perked up by the new person, but still nervous around Silber.

The reaction from her gave Silber a small smile, "You are clearly busy. I won't take up more of your time. See you later."

Turning his back so that she felt comfortable to leave, Silber started making his way towards his team, but not before he heard the accented voice of Velvet behind him. "Thank you!"

Silber smiled disappeared though, as soon as he saw the smirk that Yang was sporting, along with Blake having a small smile. "Well if it isn't the hero of the Faunus, Shocker."

Silber groaned at the media's name for him, "I'm not a hero." He said, catching everyone in his team by surprise. "I'm just doing the what I think is right, I'm sure everyone here will do that too. I'm sure that's why you're here, as well. By the way, Yang, I thought we went over this, I don't like being called Shocker."

"Not my fault it's catchy." Yang smirked, clearly enjoying her teasing of her young teammate.

"No it's not." Silber said, crossing his arms as he turned his back to Yang.

"Dude, are you pouting?"

"N-no."

"You so are!" Yang snickered at her teammate's expense, his face shifting to deep red. "You pout like Ruby when dad says no to her getting another weapon mod."

"Do not!" Silber and Ruby chorused a whine of protest, before looking at each other in surprise as Yang's laughs grew louder.

"You know what?" Silber said with a mock serious tone, "I disown you as my pun buddy."

Yang's laughter stopped as her face changed into one of fake horror, "B-but, we were punny." She joked, making the other members of the table groan at the bad pun. Before any one could protest, the bell rang, signaling that next class was starting in fifteen minutes giving students enough time to redress in their uniforms.

"Saved by the bell." Silber got up heading for the door along with the others. "Literally."

Unknown to them, Cardin had his eyes set on Jaune, a sickening smirk starting to spread across his face for what he had in mind for the blonde swordsman.

* * *

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War, humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population on Menagerie." Professor Bartholomew Oobleck sipped in some coffee quickly as he went around his desk and swiftly continued his lesson. Silber, stopped paying attention for a little bit, dragged back into deep thought.

'God, Geist, what am I even doing? I know I said I'd move on, but I just can't. There's too many things I want to ask you like if-' He interrupted his thoughts as a sad sigh escaped his lips.

Mr. Lunom, do you have any comments about the current status that the Faunus are in at the moment?" Apparently Silber wasn't as silent with the sigh as he thought he was, since Oobleck stopped the class and now all eyes were on the Lunom boy.

"Well, uhmm..." Silber began, trying to gather his thoughts together enough so he didn't try to joke his way out of it.

"W-well, you see, I just happen to notice that, what was it called?" Silber started really struggling with the fact that he couldn't joke his way out of the situation, but quickly found his train of thought. "Ah right, Menagerie is basically a large island in the corner of Remnant. And, well, It just feels like the Faunus were casted aside, kind of like an out of sight, out of mind situation." He finished, glad he was able to pull that off. 'Note: Contemplate outside of class.' He mentally noted.

"Hmm. Not many people share your point of view, Mr. Lunom. And this students is why the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" Professor Oobleck took back the reigns of the class, taking a sip from his thermos. "Now, have any among you been subjugated or discriminated against because of your Faunus heritage?" He asked, trying to see if the question could bring the attention of some of the less enthusiastic members of the class.

Silber saw a hand bolt up, then another raised slower than the first, almost shyly as he recognized the rabbit ears of Velvet a few rows in front him. "Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!"

With another sip of what Silber had to assume was coffee, Oobleck continued. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang!" With another dash, he resumed his lecture. "Now, which one of you, young scholars, can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?"

Silber saw Weiss raise her hand.

"Yes?" Oobleck waited for the answer, seeing the heiress's hand raised.

"The Battle at Fort Castle!" Replied Weiss, almost with a matter-of-factly tone in her voice.

Silber turned back to the front of the class, seeing the teacher behind his desk again when just a second ago he was in front row of a students. "Precisely!" Oobleck replied, loving when his students are engaged in the topic. "And, who can tell me the advantage that the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces."

'Ugh, Lagune was such a fool.' Silber groaned internally

It was at that moment that Silber caught something from the corner of his eye, a small piece of paper sailing into the back of Jaune's head, who Silber noticed was asleep before the rude awakening he was about to receive As he could do nothing, the paper hit right on the blonde's head, waking him up and irritated him a little. "Hey!"

But the blonde's slight anger vanished as the hyperactive teacher zoomed into his face. "Ah, Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" Oobleck asked-demanded.

"Uhhh… The answer..." As Silber expected, Jaune had no idea what was going on, the poor guy just woke up. "The advantage… that the Faunus… had over that guy's stuff." Jaune stalled as he was trying to comprehend what Pyrrha was signaling to him as she had her hands cupped around her eyes.

An idea popped into Silber's head, saving the poor blonde from embarrassing himself, "I'm sorry, Professor, but I think the question is a little bit indefinite to have a concrete answer." He said, earning the attention of the professor and students, along with a sigh of relief from Jaune.

"In what way, Mr. Lunom, I only asked the advantage that the Faunus had?" Oobleck posed, a glint of interest in his eyes.

"Well, that's the thing, the Faunus had many advantages, namely being in a fort. It could also come down to the biology of the Faunus, with them having better hearing and smell than humans, it could come down to battle strategy, defenses, or just plain got lucky. There are just too many variables for there only to be one advantage that the Faunus had over the General." Silber noted, Oobleck arced a brow in response.

"You're sounding a lot like a mathematics teacher, Mr. Lunom." The professor stated, making Silber feel somewhat proud of himself.

"I excel mostly at science and engineering, dabbling a bit in chemistry here and there, but I learned long ago that everything is math." Silber said, straining not to geek out, "I mean, everything can be explained by mathematics: art, music, Dust, Faunus, Humans, Grimm, even why everyone here is different from one another is explained by mathematics." Even if he was trying, it didn't mean he was succeeding by a large margin.

"Tell me then, Mr. Lunom, if there is an explanation for everything, why was Mr. Arc sleeping in my class?" Professor Oobleck questioned, making Jaune sulk a little at being caught, as Pyrrha's worry for her team leader grew, leaving Silber to wonder how to make Jaune look better in the situation.

"The different mathematical progression of the human genome makes us all different from one another." Silber said as a start, gaining everyone's attention, even Weiss's as this was a subject that she didn't have prior knowledge on. "That means that some are born with a natural inclination towards being a morning person. They wake up bright and early and cheerful and instantly alert and nobody likes them and that's just the way it should be." He stopped, hearing the some snickers resound through the room as he caught his breath, making Jaune remember all the times he wanted to strangle a certain hyperactive, orange haired girl for being so cheery in the morning.

"On the flip side are people who work all night and don't sleep till dawn. I'm talking here mostly about writers, artists, and other people the rest of us would just as well not deal with anyway. As Jaune willingly demonstrated, attempting to alter your circadian rhythm by, say, staying up late when you're not a night person produces results that a rarely satisfactory. Sure, sleeping in class is bad as a survival mechanism because it leaves us vulnerable to changes in our environment, hence, the piece of paper that Cardi gladly threw at Jaune in order to wake him up." Silber stopped again as a small complaint came from Cardin's side and some snickers escaped the from the lips of both Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Mr. Lunom, if you could please reach your conclusion before my class ends." Oobleck said, though was secretly impressed with the young boy.

"Yes, sorry, what I'm trying to reach is that, to my belief, Jaune is more of a morning person than a night person, but, since he has the responsibilities as a leader to his team, he stays up studying how to become a better leader, doesn't necessarily mean that he studied for this class, but instead studied battle strategies, team attacks, defending, and other subjects, ideas that could've helped Lagune's forces against the Faunus if he had those in mind." Silber concluded, seeing Jaune brighten up at hearing that Silber sees potential in him becoming a better leader.

"It is a fascinating theory, Mr. Lunom. I see a bright future in you as a teacher." Praised Oobleck, before shifting his gaze to Jaune, "You have a good friend there, Mr. Arc."

"Well, Cardin, as Mr. Lunom gladly pointed out, since you cared enough to make Mr. Arc wake up and pay attention, perhaps you would care to share you thoughts on the subject!"

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Claimed Cardin rudely, making the professor shake his head in disappointment.

Silber wanted to say something, anything, to shut Cardin's mouth, heck, the fact that he always felt like the bullies from his old school sent Silber a little on the edge with the taller teen, but Pyrrha beat him to it the punch. "You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?"

"I think that might be a contender for the understatement of the year award." Silber added, earning a glare from the Winchester for his comment. "What? It's true."

"What? You got a problem?" Cardin asked the two of them.

"No, I have the answer!" Pyrrha replied, losing all focus on Cardin and putting it back to the class, while also stopping Silber from making any more comments that could start another argument.

"It's night vision." Pyrrha answered. "Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."

Cardin let out an angry growl, making a lot of students turn towards the teen. "Ok, guys, who brought their dog to class?" Silber asked, knowing it would make the burnt orange haired teen angry.

Cardin was close to charging at the younger boy, but luckily, Blake decided to continue with the explanation to Pyrrha's answer. "General Langune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." As Oobleck took a sip from his thermos, she turned to Cardin. "Perhaps if he had paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

Some 'Ooo's' were heard from around the classroom as Cardin, for the first time sat upright. "Psst, Cardin, I think she was referring to you." Silber snickered, again finding the older teen's anger aimed at him.

Cardin shot out of his seat, eyes glaring bloody murder at Silber, but in a calm and tired voice, Oobleck called out, "Mr. Winchester, please take your seat."

By then Silber could hear Jaune snickering like a madman, enjoying his tormentor's embarrassment, but that was before the green haired professor zoomed into the blonde's face saying, "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."

The rest of class went by like a breeze for Silber. Gathering his books back together as he made his way to Blake, "It seems like being around me is starting to be an influence on you!" He said, seeing Blake with a small grin. "We might have to work on the comedy, they hate it when you're having fun proving them wrong."

"Maybe I should take some pointers." Blake suggested sarcastically, letting the grin become an actual smile as they both left the classroom.

"There you go, already improving! You have a lovely smile on your face and I feel like I have to do some running to feel important again." Silber said, letting himself have a small smile of his own. The two talked about the books they were reading as they made their way back to their dorm.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha stood by the door to the classroom, talking to Nora and Ren, "You go on ahead. I'll wait for Jaune."

* * *

Dusk came quickly to Beacon, most of the students retiring to their dorms for the night to prepare for classes the next day. Unlike them, Silber was in the courtyard, staring at the statue that stood outside the academy.

The statue depicting a Huntsman and Huntress perched atop a rock with a Beowolf under them. The Huntsman's sword raised valiantly as the Huntress rested an arm on her ax. A sliver of the Moon was hanging in the night sky as it's light barely shined on the statue.

Silber gaze never left the statue for a second, not noticing that he had company.

"Out a little late are we, Mr. Lunom?" A calm voice questioned, catching his attention.

Looking to the voice, Silber saw Professor Ozpin standing next to him, mug of coffee in hand as he looked at the statue.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Guess I was just lost in my thoughts, Professor. I'll head back to the dorms." Silber said as he started to head back to the dorms.

"Actually, Mr. Lunom," Ozpin replied, stopping the teen from leaving. "I was wondering if something was bothering you? How are you feeling since our talk at the jail."

Silber sighed to himself at that, but made it visible as he deflated. "Honestly? Not that great, actually." He answered as turned around, deciding that being honest with the older man was the more sensible option.

"I know you said it wasn't my fault what happened that night, but I can't help but feel like I could have done something. Roman Torchwick, the only lead I have that might lead me to who killed Geist, is still running around busting Dust shops. Add that with the fact I'm in a team that I can't trust because of all this." Silber started to count off.

"Have you told this to any member of your team?" Ozpin simply asked as if it was nothing.

"What?" Silber said, making sure he heard the right words come out of the man's mouth.

"Have you told this to any member of your team?" Ozpin repeated calmly, taking a gulp of his coffee.

"I don't think that I can just come out and say that my adoptive uncle was murdered, I was homeless for a week while I was literally knocking down buildings looking for a dust robber that may or may not have had a hand in his death and that I can't sleep at night without having nightmares. That's not even counting the stuff that happened before that night." Silber listed off. "Besides they all already have their own burdens and things to worry about, they don't deserve me spilling all of this out on them."

"Mr. Lunom, when your teammates decided to become huntresses, they decided to bear the lives of many, just as you chose when you decided to be a huntsman. Don't you think that that they are strong enough that they could take your story?"

"That's not what I meant!" Silber shouted out, earning no physical response from the spectacle wearing adult. "It wouldn't be fair to them if I just go and dump all of this on them!"

"Life is not fair." Ozpin calmly stated, "I think you of all people know that."

"But that doesn't mean I go out and make it harder on them." Silber shot back as he calmed down a bit.

Ozpin decided to enlighten the boy on what he thought about the situation, "You say that you don't trust them, and yet you bottle up your feelings so that you don't bother them."

Silber had no immediate response to that statement, so he chose to remain quiet at that point, letting Ozpin continue. "I'm not going to force you to tell them, as it is not my spot to do so, but I must let you know that might not find out who killed Geist for sometime, and I don't want you to live a miserable life here, especially if it's miserable because you choose it to be."

Silber continued to sit in silence, he knew that the man didn't have all the answers, but he sure was smart. "Thank you, Professor Ozpin, I'll think about it." He said as he started to leave. "And I'm terribly sorry for the outburst."

"It's no problem, Mr. Lunom." Ozpin reassured, a small smile on his face. "And please know that my door is open any time."

"Thanks again, Prof." Silber called back a short smile forming as he headed back to his team's dorm, as the spectacle wearing professor returned his gaze to the statue.

"He truly is your son." He mused to himself, before taking a nightly stroll across the academy grounds.

* * *

Later that night, Yang Xiao Long was awoken by a light emanating from the cracked door of the bathroom. Looking through the light with tired eyes, she saw a flash of black and red hair.

"Mm… Ruby close the door all the way." Yang grumbled sleepily, with the door shutting soon thereafter.

"Thanks." Yang's muffled voice escaped the confines of her pillow, before falling back into the tempting grip of sleep, letting lose faint snores.

What Yang didn't know was that Ruby was in her bed the entire time, allowing herself to be trapped in the warm grasp of her blanket.

* * *

 **AN- I tossed in a little talk with the Wizard of Oz there that I personally really enjoyed writing.**

 **So Fun Fact: Originally I was gonna put in a sparring match or much rather, a brawl between Silber and Cardin that I really wanted to do, but due to what happens during and after the fight, I decided against because I felt it would be bad writing to drag out what happened in the next couple chapters**

 **I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, if you are then favorite, follow, give a review, and I'll see you guys soon with Chapter 6. _PEACE ~ Deva_**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN- Hey guys and welcome to Chapter 6 of RWBYS: AfterShock! Sorry for being super late to updating this, I got caught up with other stuff. Went and saw Venom, I liked it. I also platinumed Spider-Man. In other news, I'm still looking for a beta-reader. I'll try my best to be more consistant with updating this story.**

 **Shoutouts to RightHandOfPalpatine and GRAVEM1ND for following the story, and CreatorHall for following and favoriting the story. Thanks for all of your support, guys!**

 **By the way, guys, a quick reccomandation. Go check out You, Me, and Everyone in Between by LeafyDream. I can't stress enough how well written the story is. That's the level of writing I want to be at someday. I read it yesterday and it had me hooked.**

 **On to the usual announcements, RWBY is own by RoosterTeeth and created by Monty Oum, while I only own my oc's. Now, without further ado, enjoy the story.**

* * *

 **Forever Fall Folly**

The crumbling Moon shined it's spectral light across Beacon Academy. Various students dotted along the courtyard as they trekked their way back to their dorms for night, while the coos of an owl set a peaceful rhythm. Conversations consisted about classes, training tips, and other topics as they strolled in assorted groups. Overall, a peaceful night.

Suddenly, a loud clatter rung out across the campus, grabbing the various students' attention as they peered in the direction of the noise, sounding like it came all the way from the dorms. So much for a peaceful night at Beacon.

The source of the sound? The dorm room of team RWBYS.

"Ruby?! Do you remember what happened to that precision bolt driver?!"

Currently, Silber Lunom practically had everything in the room strewn out across the floor, everything from books to clothes in his search for the small tool. He scrounged through the wardrobe, throwing out some more of those 'Dust for Dummies and other Inadequate Individuals' pamphlets that Weiss had to keep around for what she said was "A disclaimer for any dunces that seek out compensation for a Dust related injury."

Ruby, who had been preparing to wind down for the day, popped her head out the door of the bathroom, "Uh, I think Re-" Only for a stray pamphlet to smack her in the face, effectively interrupting the young team leader.

"Oops, sorry." He shot an apologetic to the girl, but Ruby brushed it off with a smile

"Just a piece of paper." She said innocently, "But like I was saying, I think Ren asked to borrow it earlier."

Pulling his head out of the wardrobe, Silber had a black beanie adorned on his head with the silver tips of his hair barely poking out. "Thank you."

Getting up, Silber headed for the door not paying the clutter any mind as he did, leaving Ruby behind to look at the disarray the room was in, "Uh, Weiss is gonna be back soon and she'll flip when she sees this."

"Ruby, It's not like I'm going to Beacon Cliff, I'll be back before she ever knew that there was a mess." Reassured the blue-eyed boy as he left the room.

Quickly crossing the hall to the door of team JNPR, Silber rapped his knuckles against the wood door. He didn't have to wait long for a response, "Coming." The voice was obviously Pyrrha's, calm and collected but held a slight hint of anger, which was strange.

"Oh, Silber, it's you." Pyrrha said, clearly not expecting him to be at the door. Behind her, Nora was jumping on her bed like a trampoline, the frame squeaking with each bounce from the hyperactive girl. "Hey, Shocky." Meanwhile, Ren sat on the edge of his bed, loading StormFlower quietly, sending a gentle nod as his greeting.

"What, expecting someone else?"

Pyrrha looked down a little after he said that, entering the room as the redhead shut the door, Silber didn't see the J of JNPR. Now that he thought about it, he hasn't seen Jaune anywhere except during class, and even then it was like the blond didn't want to be seen.

"So, uh, where's Jaune? I haven't seen him in a minute?" Pyrrha's passive expression twisted into a scowl at hearing the question, making him pass a questioning glance to Ren and Nora.

"Jaune has made himself scarce since he started fraternizing with Cardin and his lot." Ren answered with an indifferent tone, while the redhead warrior sat on the desk by the window. Nora bounded up one final time, twisting her nimble body so her back landed harmlessly on the covers, "That's weird… Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!"

"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing." Pyrrha responded angrily, while her voice meant one thing, her vibrant green eyes shot a sad glance out the window.

'So that's why she's been bent out of shape during training lately.' the youngest teen in the room thought, 'Jauney, just what the hell are you doing.'

"Mmmm… I guess so."

Nora, Ren, and Silber exchanged a quick glance between each other, no one noticing the door crack open as a blue eye peeked in. A soft silence settled in the room among the four, but was quickly broken when the gauntlet user remember why he was there in the first place, "Anyways, Ren, you done with that bolt driver? I kinda need them to do a quick check up on my gauntlets."

"Yes, I am. They're on the shelf." The raven haired teen gestured to the shelf adjacent to him, "Thank you for letting me use them."

Silber gave a dismissive wave, "No problemo, my man."

With the item he needed in his grasp, the teen went to make his exit, "Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

His hand barely reached the door handle before Pyrrha suddenly stopped him, "Silber, what you said the other day about Jaune, do you really believe that?" her voice at first sounded like it normally did, calm and collected, but had an underlying tone of uncertainty.

Turning back to the fiery redhead and seeing the unsure look in her emerald was enough to tell him that she needed to know. "Yep." He simply answered, earning a surprised look from the spartan.

"Yep?" Pyrrha asked

"Yep." repeated Silber, before he continued, "I'll admit, Jaune's track record as an individual isn't good. He has one of the lowest grades in academic and Huntsmen classes. He hasn't won any of his spars so far or come close to it, though not for lack of trying."

Pyrrha looked down at her feet as he listed off Jaune's defeats. Did she place her trust in the wrong person? "But," Silber continued making the tall girl look up from the floor, "I watched the footage from initiation, and I noticed how Jaune took control of the situation and came up with a plan to defeat the Death Stalker, albeit even if me and Nora gave it a good wack before we joined up with who would eventually be our teams. So yeah, he might not be good alone, but I think you all give that extra push to be the great leader that I think he can be."

The spartan girl's gaze shifted from uncertain to questioning after hearing the young teen's words, "Look, I don't know why Jaune is hanging out with Cardin, but I don't think he would want to be around him unless he had to."

Silence returned to the room for a second, no one saying anything, not even Nora uttered a word.

"Lunom, you dunce!" the shrill shriek of the Schnee heiress shattered the silence, making everyone look at the door. Silber looked back at the older huntsmen and huntresses-in-training with a pleading look etched on his face, with a nervous laugh escaping his throat.

"Hehehe, You wouldn't mind if I slept in here with you guys for the night, right?"

He only received a small smile from Pyrrha and Ren, while Nora had a broad grin stretched across her face. Pyrrha shook her head gently, "I'm afraid not."

"Please?" He pleaded with his hands clasped in front of him. "I'm house trained." He added, hoping that would help his case. It didn't.

The trio's expressions didn't change whatsoever, letting loose a sigh, Silber hung his head in defeat, "Well, I'll see you guys in the morning. Hopefully Weiss-Cream doesn't try to freeze me to my hammock… again." Pyrrha and Ren tried to stifle their laughs as best as they could, but Nora on the other hand didn't last a second before she howled in laughter. Soon enough, the three members of JNPR were all laughing.

All the dark haired teen could do was narrow his eyes, "Its not funny." He pouted, waving a loose hand as a goodbye.

Opening the door, he stepped out into the hall just as he caught a fleeting glimpse of a certain blonde knight as he turned the corner. Silber eyed the spot that Jaune was at a second ago, before his hand hesitantly hovered over his scroll, contemplating should he even go in or try using the dorm building's commons room.

He didn't have time to consider the choice, as the door swung open and behind it was none other than Weiss Schnee, who was practically steaming with how upset she was. The Lunom luck has been a real bitch lately.

She didn't say anything, but then again, she didn't have to get her point across. She gestured to the room behind her, where it was in complete shambles. Holding his hands up defensively, he tried to explain, "Now, Weiss, I can explain thi-" Keyword: tried.

Not even giving him a chance to clarify, the heiress shot a hand to his ear and gripped tightly, eliciting a pained squeak from the boy, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Dragging the young inventor into the room, the Schnee heiress shut the door behind her.

The rest of the night was composed of Silber cleaning his mess while Weiss shouted at him, as Yang laughed at the predicament that the black and silver-haired boy was in. Luckily for the silver haired teen, he was able to avoid getting frozen to his hammock as the Schnee felt it wasn't worth the effort.

Soon, the girls all said their good nights before heading to bed, peacefully enjoying their slumber except for Yang, whose snores rung out constantly throughout the night. Silber stayed up quietly tinkering with his gauntlets and after the maintenance was completed he hopped into his hammock and silently hoped that no nightmares would plague him for the night. He rolled onto his side, and closed his eyes, finally achieving rest at last.

Roaming through the forest of Forever Fall, Silber had to admit, he was quickly fascinated by it's grandeur. Red maple leaves hung elegantly from the countless branches, and the bark on the trunk was knotted and burled, sap had hardened into streaks that bleed down into the various fissures along the tree, giving off the appearance that someone had elegantly hand painted the entire setting, Leading the trip was Professor Goodwitch, who guided teams RWBYS, JNPR, and CRDL.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

'Well, at least she's honest about it.' Silber thought, 'I mean she could have been like one of those infomercials for some new Alestian tech that they say is for the benefit for all citizens. Sugar-coat some half-truths in, add a tiny disclaimer that goes by to fast, slap a big price tag that's double what the parts cost as a whole.'

While Silber was always interested in the new tech that cranked out of Atlas, he could never get behind some of the companies that would develop them. There were too many shady dealings in Atlas for his taste, with the SDC being a prime example of that. That didn't mean all of them were in less than legal dealings, just that there wasn't enough of them that weren't. And don't get him started on their attitude, that coming from someone who had a lot of it.

Meanwhile, Jaune was the bringing up the rear of the group, trying to catch up. In his hands was a case of seven empty jars delicately stacked on top of one another that he'd been lugging around since they got off the Bullhead. What he didn't see however, was that the group had come to a stop abruptly. He ends up bumping into the back of one Cardin, causing the jars to clink together. The bully turned around scowling deeply at the blonde knight, who tried to feign his innocence with by whistling a tuneless song.

Looking back to Professor Goodwitch, she had pulled out a jar filled to the brim with a watery red liquid that sloshed around as she showed it to her students. "Each of you are to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!"

Yang, Silber, and Ruby shot each other a broad smile at the news of being free from Goodwitch for 2 hours. That's the best news they heard since the field trip's announcement. The class split off into their normal teams, except for Jaune, who had tried to slip away unnoticed from his torturer, bu with the jars positioned as they were, stealth was out the window the moment he made a step.

Cardin grabbed him by his back roughly, nearly making him drop the case. "Come on buddy, let's go!" The armored teen said happily. All Jaune could do was shoot a miserable glance to his team, where Nora and Ren were already walking into the depths of the forests as Pyrrha stared sadly at her leader.

Jaune dropped his gaze down to the dirt, before turning to follow CRDL down the path Cardin chose, much to Pyrrha's disappointment. The tournament champion breathed out a quick sigh as she continued on the path her teammates and RWBYS walked down.

Jaune Arc was officially having the worst week ever. First, Cardin finds out about his fake transcript and blackmails him into basically being his team's slave. Topping it all off, Pyrrha hasn't talked to him since he yelled at her for trying to help him. And the talk he had with Ruby last night was rattling around in his head like a gong.

The blonde knight shuffled his way back to team CRDL, or rather his tormentors. The soft clinking of the full jars of sap signaled his return to his blackmailers. Said team was currently making themselves comfortable, either laying on the lush grass, or using one of the many large trees or boulders as a back rest.

Jaune set the seven jars down as gently as he could, before collapsing face-down into the dirt, with a tired huff escaping his lungs Cardin and the rest of his team got to their feet as they gathered around the worn out blonde.

"Hey, great work, Jauney boy!" Congratulated the indigo-eyed leader, "Now that wasn't too hard, was it?"

Jaune, still on the ground cross-eyed from doing CRDL work, wheezed out, "I think I'm allergic to this stuff."

"Greeeat, great, great." Cardin dismissed the knight's complaint, obviously not caring what his answer was. "So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect seven jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?'"

Jaune slowly nodded, still taking a breather, "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."

A sly smirk formed on the towering teen's face as Jaune sat up. "Well, come with me, and you'll find out."

Jaune really didn't want to find out, but then again, he knew Cardin wouldn't take no as an answer. All he could do was let out a low moan and gulp in worry at what team CRDL's leader had in mind.

After doing a quick game of eeny meeny miny moe, Silber picked a random tree to collect some red sap from and he went to work digging out a spigot from his pocket, giving it a quick inspection it looked like that of a bathroom tap. Scraping a new knot in the bark, the young teen gently forced the tap into the soft trunk, using some excess bark to anchor it in place temporarily.

A quick twist of the valve resulted in a steady dribble of sweet, red liquid cascading into the waiting jar under it, filling the container until it was just a little under the brim. Giving it a quick look over, Silber turned to look at everyone else's progress.

Ren was kneeling down at the root of a tree with Nora behind him as he filled up a jar, while she held an empty jar. Once he finished filling the first jar, the stoic teen switched jars with the orange haired girl, who licked her lips at receiving the sap-filled jar.

The second jar was almost filled until several slurps reached Ren's ears. Turning to the source of the sound, he found Nora with an empty jar licked clean, shooting him an embarrassed smile covered in the jar's sweet contents.

Everybody else looked like they had no problems in getting their jars of sap. Ruby and Blake were crouched down by the trunk of a tree, the former had just finished filling up her jar as the dark-haired girl used a palm to rest her head on as she waited for her turn. Yang held her jar up, inspecting it as light filtered through it. What made his day was seeing Weiss groan as she flicked some stray tree sap that spilled on her hands.

A small smile crept its way on Silber's face at the heiress's dilemma, 'Ha, that's karma for tuggin' on my ear last night.' He mentally relished in what he felt was a small victory.

He saw Pyrrha start filling her glass up, his thoughts wandered back to last night. A quick glance around showed that team CRDL was nowhere to be found and the J of JNPR was in that boat as well. 'Jaune, where the hell are you?" the silvenette asked himself.

Meanwhile, Jaune was squeezed between Cardin and Russel Thrush as they, along with Dove and Sky, were perched on a small hilltop overlooking the other teams. Their heads peaked over the crest of the mound as they watched everyone retrieve their samples of sap.

Jaune nervously turned to his blackmailer, "Cardin, wh-what's going on?"

"Payback." Replied the mace-user simply, not taking his dark indigo eyes off the unsuspecting group. Blue eyes widen in realization.

"Pyrrha…?" Jaune's blood ran cold. "Wh-what are you-"

"That's the girl," Cardin interjected, pounding his fist on the ground. "but she isn't the only one. There's that snot-nosed know-it-all too, thinks he's so smart. Alright, boys..." The burnt-haired teen sifted through the case that Jaune lugged around, pulling out a cardboard box that had a crude 'W' drawn on it and for some reason it buzzed fiercely.

"Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work." Jaune eyed the box nervously, clearly not like where Cardin was going with this so far. His thoughts were interrupted as Russel put a rough hand on the blonde's shoulder, who laughed nervously.

"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things loooove sweets. I think it's time we teach them a thing or two." Cardin announced as he rose to his to feet with his team following his silent order to get up.

Cardin offered a hand out to Jaune, only to painfully snatch him up to his feet. Not skipping a beat, the taller teen shoved a jar into the knight's grasp. "And you're going to do it."

"Do what?"

"Hit them with the sap!" Cardin leaned in close to the shorter teen's face, his eyes flashing a sadistic look. "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of beacon."

Jaune glanced down at the jar in his hands, a red-tinted reflection looked back at him. Looking up from the container, he saw the grinning faces of team CRDL. The blonde turned to towards the rest of the group, clutching the jar as he aimed his throw at an oblivious and smiling Pyrrha. He tried to steel his nerves and stop his hand from shaking so he could complete the deed.

 _'_ _We have to put our teammates first and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you'_

 _'_ _So yeah, he might not be good alone, but I think that_ _you all give that extra push to be the great leader that I think he can be.'_

Jaune couldn't get the words out of his head as he held the jar, about to throw it. He steeled himself one final time for what he was about to do.

"No." the word came out as a low whisper, but didn't go unnoticed by his blackmailer.

"What did you say?" The mace user demanded.

Jaune's grip tightened the jar, "I said… No!" With that final shout, the blonde knight spun around and lobbed the jar at Cardin. Jaune almost instantly recoiled at the sound of the jar shattering against his target. The other team leader, however, just looked at his breastplate, the bird design now covered with blots of the tree sap. What was odd is that Cardin wasn't an angry shout, but a dark laugh that put Jaune on edge.

"Oh, you've done it now..."

Jaune could only chuckle nervously, his hands raised in an attempt to defend himself. That stopped when Dove and Sky grabbed Jaune's shoulder roughly, dragging him to the towering leader of CRDL. Jaune could only gulp in fear, before the first kick connected.

Hearing the flutter of multiple wings, Pyrrha glanced back at the hill behind the group. Something didn't feel right, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. A stray thought of Jaune entered her mind.

"Are you okay, Pyrrha." A young voice broke her train of thought.

Looking down, she was met with the worried gaze of Ruby Rose. "I'm alright, Ruby." The older girl assured with a smile."

"You sure, P-Money?" Silber added in, joining the two.

A slurping sound interrupted the young teen's questioning, "Nora!" Pyrrha yelled, making the young teens nearly jump out of their skin. The hyperactive culprit could only smile nervously as licked the sap from the sides of her mouth, holding out the now empty jar for the taller girl to take.

Receiving another kick to the gut, Jaune let out a pained groan as team CRDL watched their indigo-eyed leader pummel the poor blonde into the dirt. Cardin loomed over him with a cruel smirk plastered on his face the entire time, clearly not through him. The taller teen picked up the blue-eyed boy by the chest-plate, only to throw him back down into the ground, enjoying the power he had over him.

"You know that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy." Cardin snatched Jaune off the ground again, bringing him to eye-level. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces."

Jaune's head lolled back, "I don't care what you do to me..." The blonde head raised up, shooting a glare full of fury at the bully, "...but if you are not messing with my team."

Cardin's smug smirk disappeared quickly morphing into that of shock. Who did he think he was trying to be brave now? "What? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?"

The only response the bigger warrior got was a defiant smile from the blonde, making his blood boil even more. With a deep snarl, Cardin reeled his fist back going for another strike, but just as his fist connected, a blinding white light surged from Jaune. Cardin dropped the knight and let loose a cry of pain, holding his injured hand.

Jaune raised up and to his surprise he felt no pain, no aches. He was completely healed. Looking at his hands, a faint white light surrounded them. The feeling of the white glow was amazing, like he could take on a whole horde of Beowolves and still keep going! Still enamored by the glow, Jaune wasn't prepared for the harsh kick that one Sky Lark delivered, sending him tumbling onto his stomach.

Looking up, He glared at Cardin fiercely as he stomped over to the downed Arc. "Let's see how much of a man you really are..."

Suddenly, a guttural low growl sounded out before a massive paw crashed down, surprising the five teens at what they saw. An Ursa with dozens of jagged spikes lining its wide back, with equally serrated claws and fangs meant to tear whatever misfortunate soul that crossed it path. An Ursa Major.

The Ursa leapt toward the teens, raising up on it's hind legs as it sniffed the air. No one dared to make a move in fear that it would set the killing machine off. The Grimm cocked it's head down to one of the meatbags' scent was tantalizing to the creature. With a loud thud, the Ursa stomped back down onto it's forelegs and with lets out a primal roar at Cardin, who is rooted to the spot in fear.

"That's a big Ursa!" came the fearful cry of Russel.

His teammates, however, instantly ran at the Grimm's bellow, leaving their leader behind, too worried for their own lives. The creature of Grimm swung it's claws wildly, knocking the burly teen sideways, revealing that Jaune was using the teen's stature as a hiding spot. The monster continued to sniff the air, completely ignoring Jaune as it followed it's nose back to Cardin.

Jaune watched as the creature towered over his blackmailer, who gathered his wits enough to pull out his mace. The Grimm looked at the brandished weapon for a second before swiping it out of the team leader's hand; the mace landing at the blonde teen's feet.

Jaune watched the scene with worry, but didn't move. Should he help the boy that practically made him a slave to him and his team? Or should he watch as the bully gets a taste of his medicine by getting knocked around by something bigger than him? Decisions, decisions.

Meanwhile, the vicious howl was heard by team RWBYS and the remains of team JNPR. Ruby instantly shot up to her feet in worry, "Did you guys hear that?"

Before anyone could answer, Russel, Dove, Sky broke through the brush, panting as they ran from the direction of the roar. Looks of terror on their faces as they sprinted away.

"Ursa! Ursa!" Russel yelled, looking back before colliding into Silber, who was unfazed at the collision, almost like it didn't happen.

"Where!?" Silber hoisted the green clad teen by his shirt, gauntlets now unfolded on his arms. Russel struggled in the younger boy's grasp as he still tried to run even if his feet weren't touching the ground. "Back there! It's got Cardin!" He babbled out quickly, throwing his arm back to point at the path they came from.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha's emerald eyes flashed with worry, dropping her jar of sap.

Instantly, Ruby switched into leader mode as she hurriedly gave orders, "Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch! Silber, you're with Weiss and me!" Yang and Blake gave a quick nod before taking off to find the Professor, while Silber released the teen from his grip as he rushed to his leader's side.

Looking over to her teammates Pyrrha yelled, "You two, go with them! There could be more!" With their orders known, Ren and Nora rushed after Yang and Blake. Pyrrha activated her shield and javelin as Ruby's scythe unfurled while they ran in the direction Russel pointed at.

Cardin expected a lot of things to happen today. He expected to put two people, who in his mind were smart-asses, in their places under his boot. He also expected to tighten his grasp on Jaune even more by being the one to dish out the punishment to the two smart-asses. What he didn't think would happen today, however, was that he would be running for his life from a Grimm death machine that was easily the size of his dorm room.

Indigo eyes darted around the clearing for an escape route, a small path caught his attention before he tried to execute his cobbled-together escape plan, all while the Ursa Major was hot on his heels with several grunts and snarls escaping it's maw. Cardin's hope of escape was dashed with a swift swipe from the creature as it leaped on top of the teen. The team leader desperately tried to rise up and crawl away.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!"

Silber, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss arrive in time to witness the giant Grimm tower of over the burnt-haired warrior, it's massive paw raised to strike the defenseless teen. "Oh, no!"

The Ursa swiped it claws downward, only to be blocked by Jaune's shield. The blonde struggled as the monster put more weight into it's blow, all while Cardin watched stunned, both from the blow the creature dealt and by the blonde teen defending him. Weiss lifted her rapier, Myrtenaster, preparing to join the fray before the blonde got himself and the downed teen killed, but as she did Pyrrha used her arm to block her, "Wait!"

Jaune pulled his shield out from under the Ursa's paw and gave the beast's exposed stomach a swift slash with his sword. The creature of Grimm howled in pain, its deathly yellow homing in on Jaune as it lashed claws wildly trying to crush the blonde. Jaune rolled out of the way of the Grimm's strikes, before jumping to avoid another swipe at his feet. Jaune wasn't prepared for the powerful blow that the Ursa launched at him in mid-air.

The hit sent the blue-eyed leader of team JNPR flying, before crashing back down to the deep red grass. But to the hidden group's surprise, Jaune was quick to get back on his feet, charging back at the monster. Going for a leaping slash, the knight jumped over the Grimm, but is knocked behind by a swipe of its paw.

Jaune skidded to a stop his breath grow, taking a quick glance at the scroll in his shield he saw that his aura was in the red. He couldn't take another hit or else he'll be just another blood corpse that the Grimm left behind. With a low growl, the blonde charges the dark beast as it starts to bound towards him.

Just as the two meet for a clash, Pyrrha immediately noticed that Jaune left himself open to the Ursa's claws. Thinking fast, she lifted her hand out to him, a dark red energy gathered around her arm. Just as the Ursa's swipe was about to connect, the same energy surrounded Jaune's shield making it lift up in time to deflect the swipe. Jaune used the unknown help to lean to the ground, pushing his shield back up in case the beast tried to swipe again, and with a final swing of his blade, He sliced through the Ursa Major's neck. The beast's head rolled to the ground as the body fell down with a mighty slam.

The energy around Pyrrha's hand dissipated while a soft smile curved its way on her lips. Her eyes locked onto Jaune as he stood in victory, his chest heaving rapidly as the adrenaline from the battle faded.

"Uhhh… What?" Ruby asked in a mix of confusion and amazement. Silber remained silent but a grin was spread across his face.

Weiss was equally surprised by the display, as she tried to find the right words, "How did you…?"

"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs. My Semblance is Polarity." Pyrrha stated.

"Whoa, you can control poles..."

Weiss pressed a palm to her forehead at her leader's astute description of the fiery-haired girl's ability. Did she even pay attention in science class? Sucking in a breath, Weiss prepared to chide the black and red- haired girl, but the other young member of her team beat her to it.

"No, Rubes. It means that she can control an object's magnetism. Good try though."

Ruby didn't pay the explanation any mind, she was still impressed by the four time tournament winner, "Magnets are cool, too..." She said in hushed voice.

Weiss noticed the redhead start to make her way back down they came from, "Wait, where are you going?" The heiress questioned, making Pyrrha turn back to her.

"Yeah!" Ruby chirped excitedly, "We gotta tell them what happened!"

"We could..." Pyrrha trailed off as a her lips formed a sly grin. "Or perhaps we could keep it our little secret?" She walked off again while the three members of RWBYS shared understanding smiles with each other.

"I like the way she thinks." Silber smirked as they jogged after the tall girl.

Ruby cupped a hand to her chin as they strode down the small path as small pieces of light leaked its way past the many branches of leaves. "Hey, Silber."

"Yes, Ruby?"

"What's your Semblance? I don't think I've ever seen you use it?"

The three girls turned to the sole male of the group, expecting an answer. "My semblance is Shock Absorption and Redistribution." the blue-eyed boy answered simply.

"Wait." Ruby got a mischievous look in her eye that Silber really wasn't liking, not one bit. "Your Semblance is starts with Shock and VNN called you The Shocker.."

Silber shot his team leader a narrow look, "Ruby, if you finish that sentence I won't share my secret stash of sweets with you anymore." He threatened, knowing she would do just about anything for a cookie. Heck, Ruby and Nora almost fought over a cookie, thankfully Ren intervened by splitting the cookie in half so that both could have a piece, and not end up tearing the cafeteria down in their struggle for the baked sweet.

Whatever Ruby was about to say would never be known as she snapped her head looking forward in silence, but still had a smirk on her face. Pyrrha giggled softly at the two's antics, while Weiss had a frown on her face. Their short trek lead them back to the rest of the group, now with Professor Goodwitch present and the look on her face said it all.

She didn't get paid enough for this sometimes.

Jaune slid his sword back into it's sheath smoothly, the blade lightly scrapping the sheath's interior. Cardin processed the entire scene in front of him in awe, the body of an Ursa Major fading into nothingness along with its decapitated head a few feet away from it. And the beast killer was none other than Jaune Arc.

The sap covered warrior looked up the blonde as his savior offered a helping hand. A smile found it's way across Cardin's face as he took it and was lifted back onto his feet. "Holy crap, Jaune!"

Jaune shot him a dark look as his blue orbs met the taller teen's indigo eyes, "Don't ever mess with my team… my friends… ever again. Got it?" The blonde delivered his threat with confidence, a far cry from the clumsy goofball that Cardin believed him to be. With his threat delivered, Jaune walked off to join the other students. Leaving Cardin to retrieve his mace and find his way back himself.

The rest of the day went uneventful as the students returned to Beacon in time for dinner, before the afternoon sunset gave way to dusk. Silber tucked his damp hair in as he put his beanie on, now in his night attire along with the rest of team RWBYS. Yang hung off her bed, listening to music, nodding her head to beat. Blake was already in bed with her eyes firmly locked on the book in her hands. Ruby was studying for a test that Professor Oobleck had coming up.

Weiss was standing in mirror with her nightgown on as she ran a brush to through her pale hair. Silber edged towards the door, "I'm gonna get some fresh air." He heard Blake and Ruby hum out in acknowledgment while they remained focused on their reading materials. Weiss gave a short huff, "Just make it back here before curfew."

Shooting the heiress a thumps up, he stepped out into the hall. Silber made his up the dorm building, passing by a few second years but didn't hear what they were talking, too focused on his thoughts to pay the soft chatter any mind. He eventually found his way to the roof exit, but was met with an unexpected sight.

In the doorway stood Jaune and Pyrrha making their back into the building, still dressed in their school uniforms. A soft coat of sweat was on the blonde's forehead as the door shut behind them with a soft click.

"Oh, hello, Silber." Pyrrha greeted with a small wave.

"Hey, Pyr." the silvenette returned with a smile before his head swiveled to look at the J of JNPR. "Sup, VB"

Jaune's response was deadpan look at the shorter boy, clearly not happy at the nickname as the boy continued "So what you two doin' up here?"

"Just a talk between teammates is all. You?"

"Getting some fresh air before curfew."

"Well, don't let us keep you, goodnight." The redhead stepped past the young teen as the blonde leader gave a low five to him.

"Pyrrha?" The tall girl turned around at the call of her name, seeing a hesitant look flash across Silber's face, she motioned to Jaune to keep going without her. "Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?" He already regretted asking, maybe he should just drop it.

"Of course."

"I need some… advice." The young inventor forced the words out, taking a deep breath, "I have something that I want to say… that I need to say to someone, but I don't know how to."

A soft hum lodged in her throat as Pyrrha thought over the boy's word, "I believe the best thing for you to do is to be honest and tell them what is on your mind. I'm sure that whoever it is will understand what you have to say."

 _'_ _No they won't.'_

"Thanks, Pyrrha. Sorry if I held you up longer than you wanted to be." Silber apologized.

Pyrrha slid a comforting hand on the short teen's should, "It wasn't a problem. If you ever need someone to talk to, JNPR's door is always open. Goodnight." Pyrrha stepped down the empty hallway, making her way back to the stairwell.

"Night."

Silber pushed the door open, immediately greeted by a cool breeze sweeping across his face gently. He sat down on the edge of the building, swinging his legs gently as he looked around him. Emerald lights dotted across the buildings, all leading up to Beacon Tower shining brilliantly. The Shining Beacon that pierced through the darkness.

The Moon glimmered brightly as it was joined by the many stars that were scattered across the night sky. The scene looked like something out of an art gallery. It was so peaceful.

Something he wasn't. His mind struggled as it thought about Pyrrha's advice.

Reaching up to his beanie, Silber gave a light tug making his hair unfurl blocking his sight. But instead of silver-tinted bangs being there, it was black hair that seeped down to a deep crimson.

"How do I tell Ruby and Yang?" His voice cracked, as he pulled a knee to his chest, hugging it like it was a loved one that he hasn't seen for a longtime and sat like that for awhile. His only company being the Moon, the stars, and the soft breeze that blew through his hair.

* * *

 **AN- I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, if you are then favorite, follow, give a review, and I'll see you guys soon because shit is gonna hit the fan with Chapter 7. _PEACE ~ Deva_**


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